Dangerous Gate (2018)

Promotional poster featuring the Dragon Gate roster

The **Dangerous Gate (2018)** was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and GAORA TV event promoted by Dragon Gate. The event took place on September 24, 2018, in Tokyo at the Ota Ward General Gymnasium and it was the sixth annual event under the Dangerous Gate.

The event was main event by Masato Yoshino defending the Open The Dream Gate Championship against his MaxiMuM stablemate Naruki Doi. The event featured two other title matches for the Open The Brave and Twin Gate Championships. The event aired on GAORA, Dragon Gate Network streaming service and on SKY PerfecTV! on demand.

## Production

### Background

The Dangerous Gate (2018) will air live through Dragon Gate's internet streaming site, Dragon Gate Network, with Japanese language commentaries. The Japanese commentary will be 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. On September 19, it was announced that the event would also air on Nico Nico and be broadcasted on Demand at SKY PerfecTV!.

### Storylines

The Dangerous Gate 2018 featured 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 Dangerous Gate (2018) was main evented by Masato Yoshino defending the Open The Dream Gate Championship against Naruki Doi. On August 11, Naruki Doi announced his intensions of challenging for the Open The Dream Gate Championship at Dangerous Gate against the winner of the Open The Dream Gate Championship at Gate of Origin. Doi's MaxiMuM stablemate and reigning Open The Dream Gate Champion Masato Yoshino was taken by surprise, but accepted his challenge. Doi also announced that he would be on Yoshino corner during the title match at Gate of Origin. On September 9 at Gate of Origin, Yoshino defeated Takashi Yoshida to retain the title, making his match official against Doi at the event. After the match, Yoshino went for a handshake and Doi teased turning on Yoshino for the third time, but Doi assured him he wouldn't turn on him. The match was officially announced on September 10. Doi said that his responsibility was to win the championship in order to rebuild a new era, following the departures of CIMA and Shingo Takagi. This was the first time in nine years that Doi and Yoshino would face each other as part of the same unit for the Open The Dream Gate Championship. Before the title match, Doi promised that he would debut a new finishing move.

In the Open The Brave Gate Championship match, Eita was against Dragon Kid in a rematch of the Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival. In May 2018, Eita and Dragon Kid took part in the King of Gate. Kid would face Eita in his first tournament match. Eita would injury Kid on purpose, leading to him forfeiting the rest of his matches in the King of Gate. During the tournament, Kid and Eita agreed to a losing disband match between Over Generation and ANTIAS on July 5, due to Kid being injured. On July 5, Eita led ANTIAS forcing Over Generation to disband, after pinning Kid for the win. On July 22 at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, Eita defeated Kid to win the title. After the match, Eita removed Kid's mask and Kid vowed to pay him back for taking his mask. Shortly after, Kid and his former Over Generation stablemate Kaito Ishida would try to join MaxiMuM, who was also feuding with ANTIAS. The match was officially announced on September 10.

In the Open The Twin Gate Championship match Tribe Vanguard (YAMATO and BxB Hulk) were against Mochizuki Dojo (Masaaki Mochizuki and Shun Skywalker). On August 7, Mochizuki and Skywalker formed Mochizuki Dojo with Hyou Watanabe and Yuki Yoshioka. Later that month, Mochizuki and Skywalker took part of AJPW's, Jr. Tag Battle of Glory, finishing the tournament with a record of three wins and three losses, failling to win the tournament. Despite failling to win the tournament, on September 6, Mochizuki and Skywalker announced their intensions of challenging for the Open The Twin Gate Championship at Dangerous Gate against the winner of the Open The Twin Gate Championship at Gate of Origin. On September 9 at Gate of Origin, YAMATO and Hulk defeated Don Fujii and Ryo Saito making their match official against Mochizuki and Skywalker at the event. The match was officially announced on September 10.

The event also featured a ten-man tag team match between Natural Vibes ("brother" YASSHI, Kzy, Genki Horiguchi, Punch Tominaga and Susumu Yokosuka) against ANTIAS (Big R Shimizu, Ben-K, Yasushi Kanda, Takashi Yoshida) and their newest member. On September 9 at Gate of Origin, after Eita defended the Open The Brave Gate Championship against Punch Tominaga. After the match, Eita tried to shave Tominaga's hair until his Natural Vibes stablemates made the save, starting a feud between ANTIAS and Natural Vibes. The match will also feature the debut on the newest member of ANTIAS, which was previously announced on September 6. The match was officially announced on September 10.

## Event

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

### Preliminary matches

The pay-per-view opened with Katsuya Ichikawa on commentary and then the Dragon Gate intro, which was followed by the full match card of the event and the promo of the All Out Unit War Elimination match and the Open The Brave, Twin Gate and Dream Gate Championship and YAMATO joined the commentary table for the first match.

In the first official match for the show, Ryo Saito, Don Fujii and Willie Mack defeated Kagetora, Yosuke♡Santa Maria and U-T. In the end, Mack performed *The Big Thump*on Maria to secure the victory for his team. Ryo Saito replaced YAMATO on the commentary table for the second match.

Next it was, a six-man tag team match between Jason Lee, Kaito Ishida, Hyou Watanabe and Yuki Yoshioka against Gamma, Shachihoko BOY, Mondai Ryu and Kota Minoura. The match ended with Ishida performing a *Tiger Suplex* on BOY to win the match for his team. Don Fujii replaced Ryo Saito on the commentary table for the third match.

In the next match, Shingo Takagi made his last pay-per-view match against KAI. In the final momentsof the match, Takagi tried to hit KAI with the *Pumping Bomber*, but he reversed it to a *Gannosuke Clutch* for the win. The two shook hands after the match and agreed to one more match between the two. Following the match, Takagi's rival BxB Hulk came to the ring and said despite hating him, the only choice was to him face Takagi in his last match in Dragon Gate. He agreed to Hulk's offer, but he asked him to team with him after ten years in the next *Korakuen Hall* show on October 2, which Hulk agreed. In the backstage, Takagi was criticized by his former ANTIAS stablemates for teaming with Hulk and it was decided that Takagi and Hulk would face Eita and a mystery partner. Kagetora replaced Don Fujii on the commentary table for the fourth match.

Shortly after, the former members of ANTIAS came to ring and unveiled their new name as R.E.D, meaning "Real Extreme Diffusion" as well their newest member Kazma Sakamoto. Shortly after, Natural Vibes entrance started and R.E.D attacked them before ending their entrances. The first elimination came by Genki Horiguchi after he pinned Takashi Yoshida with the *Backslide from Heaven.* Horiguchi and "brother" YASSHI started double teaming on Shimizu, but he pinned Horiguchi with the *Hanging Bomb* to a two count, YASSHI would hit Shimizu with the *Nice Jamaica,* but Sakamoto broke it up, he would hit YASSHI with a knee and Shimizu would pin him after a *Shot-put Slam* to eliminate him. Shortly after, Shimizu eliminated Horiguchi after a *Shot-put Slam.* The third elimination came by Kzy scoring the first elimination for Natural Vibes after pinning Yasushi Kanda with the *Running Elbow Smash* and Punch Tominaga scored the second elimination for Natural Vibes after tossing Shimizu over the top rope. He would be eliminated by Sakamoto after pinning him with a *Package Piledriver.* Ben-K would score the two final wins, firstly after pinnig Susumu Yokosuka with a *Spear* and finally the Ben-K Bomb on Kzy to score the victory for R.E.D. After the match, R.E.D tried to shave Tominaga's hair and Shimizu insulted their dance, while Horiguchi mocked their name, after Natural Vibes made the save and the two units started a brawl to the backstage. U-T replaced Kagetora on the commentary table for the fifth match.

The next match was the Open The Brave Gate Championship match where Eita defended the title against Dragon Kid. Before the match started it was shown a promo of the title match. Following the championship ceremony, Eita attacked Kid with the title belt. In the final moments of the match, Eita's R.E.D stablemate Ben-K tried to help him win the match, but Kaito Ishida kick Ben-K down the apron. Kid tried the *Ultra Hurricanrana*,but Eita caught him with the *Murder Kick* to a nearfall, Eita triedanother *Murder Kick*, but Kid reversed it to a *Bible* for a kick out Kid followed by another *Ultra Hurricanrana* for the win. After the match, Dragon Kid said he and Ishida haven’t forgotten that Eita ended Over Generation and that was the reason they joined "MaxiMuM" (despite not being official members) and tacking was just another step towards.

Before the title match, it was shown a Open The Dream Gate Championship match between Masato Yoshino and Naruki Doi during their time at WORLD-1, where Doi defeated Yoshino, after hitting him with two consecutive *Bakatare Sliding Kick* to retain his Open The Dream Gate Championship at the time. Kzy replaced U-T on the commentary table for the semi-main event.

The following match featured Tribe Vanguard (BxB Hulk and YAMATO) defending Open The Twin Gate Championship against Mochizuki Dojo (Shun Skywalker and Masaaki Mochizuki). Following the entrances, started the championship ceremony between the two teams. In the final moments of the match, Skywalker tried a jacknife pin, but Hulk kicked out, Hulk kicked Skywalker in the back and followed with a *FTX* for another nearfall, Hulk would hit him with the *First Flash* for the win. After the match, Skywalker refused to shake hands with Tribe Vanguard and left the ring by himself.

### Main Event

In the main event Masato Yoshino defended the Open The Dream Gate Championship against Naruki Doi. Before the match started it was showed a promo of the title match. Following the entrances, started the championship ceremony between the two wrestlers. Then it was displayed the national anthem of Japan, which is the origin of both wrestlers, which led to the introduction of both wrestlers. Fomer two-times Open The Dream Gate Champion Susumu Yokosuka would join the commentary table for the main event replacing his Natural Vibes stablemate Kzy who was commentating in the previous match. In the final moments of the match, Doi who had promised to debut a new finishing move, used Yoshino's *Sol Naciente* to make him submit, but Yoshino was able to put his feet on the rope. Doi would hit Yoshino with consecutive forearms and went for another forearm but Yoshino hit him with a *Lariat,* he would perform the *Torbellino* and even went for another, but Doi tried to counter it with a *Muscular Bomb*, but Yoshino manage to trap him in the *Jorge’s Sol Naciente Kai* to win the match.

R.E.D attacked Yoshino and Big R Shimizu said no one wanted to see this match, but to see him speak. He would nominate his R.E.D stablemate Ben-K to be the next challenger for Yoshino's Open The Dream Gate Championship and R.E.D leader Eita said Yoshino would have a chance of winning and he also stated that his feud with Dragon Kid was not over and revealed that R.E.D would have a new member on October 2 at the Korakuen Hall show. Yoshino was hesitant on giving an opportunity, but he wouldn't let him win the title. He thanked the fans for coming to the show and praised Doi for the match. He also said that he knew him better than anyone and Doi's home would always be Dragon Gate when he laid out his challenge for the title. He was relieved that he won the match and that Doi didn’t turn on him in the process, beacause he had turn on him before twice and the fans also expected that. The two shook hands and hugged. He caught sight of Dragon Kid and Kaito Ishida and told them to leave and he was going to continue to defend the title and bring Dragon Gate to new heights, so he hopes the fans would come with him.

## Aftermath

Following the event, Takagi and Hulk would team against Eita and PAC, who returned to Dragon Gate on October 2, becoming R.E.D newest member, in a losing effort. Takagi and Hulk would face each other where Hulk defeated Takagi in his last match.
During that, Dragon Kid would show a newly masked trainee Dragon Dia.

Also, on October 13, Big R Shimizu and Takashi Yoshida teamed with their R.E.D stablemate PAC against YAMATO, BxB Hulk and their Tribe Vanguard stablemate Kagetora. Shimizu scored the victory for his team by pinning Kagetora. Following the match, Shimizu and Yoshida challenged YAMATO and Hulk, and the match was made official.

During that, on October 13, Kaito Ishida, Jason Lee, and Naruki Doi defeated "brother" YASSHI, Kzy and Genki Horiguchi, following that they challenged Kzy, Horiguchi and Susumu Yokosuka, with Kzy accepting the challenge. On October 21, Doi, Lee, and Ishida faced Mochizuki Dojo (Masaaki Mochizuki, Shun Skywalker and Yuki Yoshioka). Skywalker scored the win for his team after pinning Ishida. Afterwards, they claimed they were the rightful challengers, leading to Kzy to decide who would get the opportunity, leading general manager Takayuki Yagi making the match a three-way match for the titles.

## Reception

Case Lowe in his review of the event for *Voices of Wrestling* said "Dangerous Gate was ultimately a win for Dragon Gate [...] no match on this show was bad [...] three of them were great".