- This article is about the Japanese wrestling
promotion. For the American branch of Dragon Gate, see
Dragon Gate USA. For the
computer game, please see Dragon's
Gate.
Dragon Gate is a
Japanese professional
wrestling promotion formerly
known as
Toryumon Japan. Most of Dragon
Gate's wrestlers are graduates from
Último Dragón's
Toryumon Gym, and thus the promotion is based on a
Junior Heavyweight style with varying emphasis on high flying
maneuvers, flashy technical grappling, and submissions.
Dragon
Gate is often associated with Mexico
, as it is
basically based on Mexican wrestling
style, and many wrestlers in Dragon Gate went to Mexico to train
there when they were beginners. Dragon Gate's main
wrestlers often describe Mexico as their "mecca
".
History
In 2004,
Último Dragón left
the promotion and took the Toryumon name and trademarks with him.
The promotion subsequently changed its name to Dragon Gate and
declared
CIMA (the last one to hold
the
Último
Dragón Gym Championship) its first Open the Dream Gate
(singles) Champion. Since then, the promotion has gained a steady
following in Japan (as well as a cult following in the United
States) and has been in full-time operation since its separation
from Toryumon in 2004.
Stars from
the promotion have also made appearances on the United States
independent wrestling scene, most notably with the Ring of Honor promotion, where stars from the
company competed in the Dragon Gate Invasion show on
August 27, 2005 in Buffalo, New York
Dragon Gate Challenge on March 30, 2006 in
Detroit,
Michigan
and
Supercard of Honor and Better than Our Best in
Chicago
, IL
on March 31 and April 1, 2006, respectively.
A six-man match pitting Blood Generation against Do-Fixer at
"Supercard of Honor" on March 31 in Chicago Ridge, IL was very well
received by both fans and critics, making it one of only a handful
of North American matches that wrestling journalist
Dave Meltzer has given a
five-star rating.
Both Ring
of Honor's "All Star Extravaganza III" on March 30 and "Supercard
of Honor II" on March 31, 2007 in Detroit, Michigan featured Dragon Gate in the main
events.
Dragon Gate has appeared frequently with Hawaii's Action Zone
Wrestling
AZW Hawaii with their first
appearance happening on Sept. 5, 2007 at the event titled
"Showdown".
CIMA,
Dragon
Kid,
Susumu Yokosuka,
Naruki Doi,
Masato
Yoshino,
BxB Hulk and
Shingo Takagi have all appeared on AZW live
events since then.
In 2008, Dragon Gate promoted their first set of shows in the
United States. The first show took place in Los Angeles on
September 5
[161109] and featured El Generico, Necro
Butcher, and Kendo. Their second show was in Hawaii on September
8.
In 2009, Dragon Gate announced it will be making its debut in the
United Kingdom with shows promoted with British wrestler Mark Sloan
making its online home www.dragongateuk.com
Japan's Dragon Gate promotion announced its expansion into the
United States with
Dragon Gate USA
on April 14, 2009 at the Korakuen Hall event in Tokyo. It named
Satoshi Oji as the President and Gabe Sapolsky (former Ring of
Honor booker) as the Vice President of Dragon Gate USA.
Roster
The company's roster is split into several
units, with the majority of
the wrestlers aligned with one faction or another.
New Generation Army
Veteran Army
WORLD-1
Real Hazard
KAMIKAZE
WARRIORS-5
Mushozoku/Zetsurins
Unaffiliated
Gaijin Used
Notable alumni
Championships
Defunct Championships
(I-J Heavyweight Tag Team Championship unified with Open the
Twin Gate Championship)
References
External links
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
