Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival (2022)

Promotional poster for the event, featuring various Dragon Gate wrestlers

The **Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival (2022)** or often referred to as **Kobe World** was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event promoted by Dragon Gate (DG). The two shows took place on July 30 and July 31, 2022, at the World Memorial Hall in Kobe, Japan. This was the second time that the Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival was held on two nights. It was the 19th Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, which is Dragon Gate's biggest annual event and it's similar to NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom. The event was also available in their streaming service Dragon Gate Network in both English and Japanese commentaries and was broadcasted live at SKY PerfecTV! as pay-per-view (PPV).

The event was notable for Último Dragón celebrating its 35th year career anniversary. The first night of the show was headlined by KAI defending the Open The Dream Gate Championship against the winner of the 2022 King of Gate Yuki Yoshioka, while the second night was headlined by Yuki Yoshioka defending the Open The Dream Gate Championship against Kota Minoura.

The first night of the event featured three other title matches with Dragon Dia defending the Open The Brave Gate Championship against H.Y.O, *Los Perros del Mal de Japón* (Eita, Kotaro Suzuki and Nosawa Rongai) defending the Open The Triangle Gate Championship against M3K (Masaaki Mochizuki, Mochizuki Junior and Susumu Mochizuki), and Z-Brats (Diamante and Shun Skywalker) defending the Open The Twin Gate Championship against Natural Vibes (Jacky "Funky" Kamei and Jason Lee). The second night featured two other title matches with H.Y.O defending the Open The Brave Gate Championship against Z-Brats stablemate SB KENTo, and M3K (Masaaki Mochizuki, Mochizuki Junior and Susumu Mochizuki) defending the Open The Triangle Gate Championship against High-End (Ben-K, Dragon Kid and YAMATO), and Natural Vibes (Big Boss Shimizu, Kzy and Strong Machine J).

## Production

### Background

Since 2004, Dragon Gate began annually producing shows on July in the World Memorial Hall, in Kobe, Japan becoming Dragon Gate's premier annual event similar to what WrestleMania is for WWE and American professional wrestling and Wrestle Kingdom is for NJPW and Japanese professional wrestling. The event celebrates the anniversary of the company after it was formed during the last *Vo Aniversario*. The Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival 2022 was officially announced on April 7, 2022 by Dragon Gate's General Manger Ryo Saito, and for the second consecutive year, the event was going to be held in two nights on July 30 and July 31, 2022, at the World Memorial Hall in Kobe, Japan, instead of traditional one night. As part of Último Dragón 35th year career anniversary celebration, on June 4, it was announced that Lucha Libre legend El Hijo del Santo would be appearing at both nights of the event. On June 20, it was annnounced that Gurukun Mask, Toru Owashi and Kanjuro Matsuyama would be appearing at the event. On June 27, as part of Kagetora's 20th year career anniversary celebration, it was announced that Michinoku Pro Wrestling's Jinsei Shinzaki and Taro Nohashi would be appearing at the event, alongside The Bodyguard.

#### Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, other wrestling promotions began to cancel or postpone their shows in an attempt to prevent further spreading of the COVID-19 virus. On March 1, 2020, Dragon Gate began canceling events starting with the Glorious Gate tour between March 3 and March 8 and the March 13th show, including a show on March 5 in the Korakuen Hall. Initially, it was announced that the Glorious Gate would be resumed on March 14, however, the tour ended up being canceled, following the recommendations by the Japanese Ministry of Health regarding the coronavirus pandemic. On March 11, it was announced that the Memorial Gate in Wakayama would be postponed, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 22, Dragon Gate began holding shows behind closed doors with no audience and only essential staff present.

On June 12, Dragon Gate announced the rules and regulations for fans who attend Dragon Gate events. On June 17, it was announced that the Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival would also be postponed. It was also announced that starting on July 4, Dragon Gate would be resuming shows with fans after the Japanese Government lifted the State of Emergency.

### Storylines

The 2022 Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portray villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

The first night of the 2022 Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival was main evented by KAI defending the Open The Dream Gate Championship against the winner of the 2022 King of Gate Yuki Yoshioka, while at the second night of the event, Yoshioka defended the Open The Dream Gate Championship against Kota Minoura. On June 2, 2022, Yoshioka defeated Kota Minoura in the finals to win the 2022 King of Gate. Following the win, Yoshioka was granted a shot at the Open The Dream Gate Championship at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, which led to Yoshioka challenging KAI to a title match immediately after winning the tournament. However, KAI refused his challenge, giving it instead the title match to Shuji Kondo, after he eliminated him from the King of Gate. On July 7, the title match between Kondo and KAI, ended in a no contest, after Kota Minoura attacked both wrestlers with a chair. Afterwards, Minoura declared himself as the next challenger to the Open The Dream Gate Championship, before being confronted by Yoshioka. Minoura, Kondo and Yoshioka discussed on, who should be the next challenger, leading Dragon Gate General Manager Ryo Saito to announce a three-way match to decide the next challenger to the Open The Dream Gate Championship. On July 24, Minoura won the three-way match, and as a result it was decided that KAI would defend his title against Yoshioka in the first night and Minoura in the second night.

In June, H.Y.O began developing an obession for the Open The Brave Gate Championship, attacking Dragon Dia following a tag team match between the two. This led to a title match, on June 25, which ended in a double count out. On June 29, H.Y.O attacked Dia following his match and issue a rematch for the Open The Brave Gate Championship at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, which he accepted. In a attempt to disrupt Dia before their match, on July 7, H.Y.O attacked him during a Hair vs. Skateboard match, between him and Don Fujii, which Dia ended up winning. Leading to the event, Dragon Gate announced a Dragon Scramble match to determine the number one contender to the Open The Brave Gate Championship at the second night of the event.

On July 3, Jacky "Funky" Kamei and Jason Lee teamed with their Kung Fu Masters stablemates Ho Ho Lun and Super Shenlong in a winning effort against Z-Brats (BxB Hulk, Diamante, H.Y.O and Shun Skywalker), with Kamei scoring a direct pinfall over Skywalker. Afterwards, Lee and Kamei challenged Diamante and Skywalker to a title match for the Open The Twin Gate Championship at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, which Dragon Gate's General Manager Ryo Saito made official. In a predule match, on July 7, Skywalker and Z-Brats stablemate H.Y.O faced Lee and Kamei in a winning effort. Afterwards, Skywalker remarked their difference in ability. In their last pre-match, on July 24, Kamei faced Skywalker in a singles match, which he lost.

On July 21, at a Pro Wrestling Noah event, *Los Perros del Mal de Japón* (Eita, Kotaro Suzuki and Nosawa Rongai) sucessfully defended the Open The Triangle Gate Championship against High-End (Dragon Kid, Kagetora and YAMATO). After the match, M3K (Masaaki Mochizuki, Mochizuki Junior and Susumu Mochizuki) challenged Perros to a title match at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, which they accepted. On July 24, High-End's Ben-K, Dragon Kid, Kagetora and YAMATO) faced Natural Vibes' Big Boss Shimizu, Kzy, Strong Machine J and U-T in a winning effort. Afterwards, both teams announced their intentions to also challenge to a title match for the Open The Triangle Gate Championship at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, leading Dragon Gate's General Manager Ryo Saito to announced that in the first night, Perros would be facing M3K for the titles in the first night and the winners of that match would be defending the titles against High-End (Ben-K, Kid and YAMATO) and Natural Vibes (Kzy, Machine and Shimizu) in a three-way match at the second night.

Leading up to event, Dragon Kid was going to celebrate his 25 year career as a professional wrestler in November, and as a result, Dragon Gate's General Manager Ryo Saito decided to hold a match at the event to celebrate Kid's career, leading him to decide to form a team that transcended units, after both BxB Hulk and YAMATO propose themselves to be Kid's opponents on July 10. This led to Saito annoucing that Hulk and YAMATO would be facing Kid and Masato Tanaka, whom he knew during his time as a referee at FMW for the first night of the event.

## Results

### Three-way elimination six-man tag team match

 2
 Winners: