No Newer Posts     WWE: One Night Stand '08 Review ECW: 06/10/08 RRC: 06/09/08 OTC: Smackdown Grades - 06/06/2008 BTL: In Defence of...JBL	Discovery: Blood Transplant by: Derek Ryan on: 6/16/2008 4:58 am est Blood Transplant The Spring of 2005 in Japan's Dragon Gate promotion is best and easiest remembered for the most successful wrestler’s debut since the change from Toryumon to Dragon Gate in Summer 2004. Perennial company ace Magnum TOKYO introduced (and named) a young Terumasa Ishihara or, as Magu had billed him, BxB Hulk. He was to be Magu’s apprentice in a sense, carrying a similar cast of dancing girls with him upon his entrances and, with that, pushing the “sex bomb” gimmick that Magnum TOKYO had gotten more than comfortable with over the years. BxB Hulk lost his debut match and every match for months ahead as is customary in Japanese pro wrestling, but unlike the young Dragon Gate talent to debut after him (Akira Tozawa, Yuki Ono among others), his supposed rookie weakness worked in a slightly different way. Why? It’s actually quite simple: Hulk was clearly special. He had “it” and it was noticeable immediately and although he wasn’t anywhere near ready for life on the upper card of Dragon Gate, there was absolutely no doubt that he would be a perfect fit sooner rather than later. He needed experience, sure, and he may have come off as some sort of young Magnum TOKYO clone in his early career, but it was obvious that the experience wouldn’t just season him as much as mould him into a glorious star. Be strong, Hulk. You got this. I would even tend to argue against him being a Magu clone as I’d consider him more of a proper evolution of the gimmick. After all, Magnum TOKYO carried the Mr. Egoist name with him throughout his wrestling days and that sort of arrogance didn’t suit BxB Hulk at all. Magu’s dancing entrance told the crowd, “Yeah, look at me bitches. I run this ring and you all love it,” and Hulk actually came off as the gracious pretty boy. His entrance music, for one, was far cutsier and less in-your-face trance music than Magu’s was. He had a certain youth and charm that made you like him for being, in all honesty, a nice and genuinely happy new star instead of for being arrogant. People grew to consider BxB Hulk less feminine and androgynous than his appearance and smile-and-wave entrance might have otherwise continued to dictate. It became clear that he was intended to be boy-band levels of cute, charming, youthful, and talented rather than another gay joke and it worked very quickly because of the way he wrestled. Hulk was thought of early on as a very unique performer, pulling off the underdog expressiveness as well as Anthony W. Mori (leader of the Hulk-centric group PoS.HEARTS, Hulk being the “pos” or possible/potential aspect) and bringing out a moveset very consistent with his acceptably modest height and physique. His general grace carried him to an early but timely group of wins in tag matches but he was still being viewed as just potential. Lots of it, but potential all the same. Hulk would remain a mere rookie for the time being… That is, at least, until his match with unspoken yet understood generation rival and predecessor Shingo Takagi. Shingo had debuted as the first Dragon Gate trueborn back in November 2004 under CIMA’s wing, coincidentally (and intentionally if that makes any sense) the other Dragon Gate ace. Shingo stuck with CIMA for all of 2005 in the Blood Generation heel faction that dominated Magnum TOKYO’s Do Fixer (my banner, actually) faction throughout that year. Shingo was presented much differently than BxB Hulk was but they ended up with oddly similar long term results. Shingo’s potential was just as astounding as his unprecedented rate of growth in the ring. He stood out by newcomer standards in every Blood Generation tag match simply by fitting in perfectly with successful veterans like CIMA and Don Fujii. He never felt like the rookie of the group. He was the powerhouse protector of CIMA more than anything else; a hired goon at times. A September Dream Gate title shot against Masaaki Mochizuki was his first big chance to prove himself and even in defeat he managed to tell everyone that the shot wasn’t out of character for him at all. Both due to his power-based style and his tendency to devour every match he had and shit pure 24 karat bricks of experience, when being compared directly to BxB Hulk it was obvious that Shingo was more progressed. And what was so excellent about their first singles clash in December 2005 (during the King of Gate tournament) is that Shingo’s rapid growth worked to his and Hulk’s advantage. The characters would obviously mesh perfectly enough for a match like that to be of any significance, but here… Do me a favor: try to think of all of the rookie-contra-rookie matches that turned out to be quite good in terms of the wrestling itself on top of intriguing. You might think at first that there are at least a few, maybe a half dozen ones that are notorious nowadays, but try to list them and see how many you come up with. You’ll find that not only is it probably something you haven’t thought much about, but that aside from, like, a few half decent ones there isn’t much heft to your list. So then, for Shingo and Hulk to actually have a match that most would consider no less than “pretty sweet” was a big deal especially considering it’s in a promotion that would be regarded as the #4 promotion in Japan at best. dressy + mullet = awesome The dominant Shingo Takagi goes into this quarterfinal match with a year and a month of pro wrestling experience, the spirited young babyface BxB Hulk with about six months. The result was largely to be expected: Shingo advances to the next round only to lose to eventual winner Ryo Saito of Do Fixer. Irrelevant. What actually happened is that finally Shingo had proven to everyone that he also had the elusive “it” factor and Hulk reassured Dragon Gate fans that he wasn’t a fresh fad. The match got big reviews considering the wrestlers were sharing 1.5 years of professional experience between them. The crowd was hot. BxB Hulk sold Shingo’s offense like nobody’s business. Shingo sold for Hulk while using his timing and charisma to show that he’s still the more advanced of the two. We didn’t see a five star match by any means but for a twelve minute match with two rookies, everyone loved it and it was considered the match of the night by most (try YouTube!). What’s funny there is that I’m sure that was the plan. I would bet a limb or two that the veterans that book Dragon Gate shows (CIMA, K-ness, Masaaki Mochizuki from what I hear, Magnum TOKYO in the past) knew that those two would have a very successful match. Going by the months of progress behind their characters and their wrestling ability, why wouldn’t one have faith in those two? Say what you will about Dragon Gate but there is much more to be said about their training system even after Ultimo Dragon’s affiliation ended. They’ve constantly been producing solid talent ever since Tozawa and Ono fizzled and proved to be lacking on their best days. The aftermath of the King of Gate tournament saw BxB Hulk collecting some more wins and Shingo Takagi getting closer to a top spot on the card. Eventually, when the Dream Gate title came around to Susumu Yokosuka and a #1 contender was needed, Dragon Gate thought it’d be a great idea to have Shingo vs. Hulk II. After all, the duo tore the crowd up on March 26 when they were the final two participants in an over-the-top-rope battle royal. Shingo came out on top once more here, garnering more rave reviews than their prior match. Natural that their next singles match would be a month later to determine who gets a shot at Susumu’s Dream Gate title. While the match was by no means as good as both others, it was serviceable and as entertaining due to the story they had created for themselves. BxB Hulk ended up beating Shingo for the first time ever, and the two became friends shortly after. Shingo had decided to go to the United States on a learning excursion where he would recruit some new talent and work mostly with Ring of Honor for a full year and change. On his way out, he rescued Hulk from an attack by Blood Generation splinter group Muscle Outlaw’z and asked that CIMA look after his friend while he is away. BxB Hulk did lose in his title shot against Susumu Yokosuka but again proved his worth, this time against a true singles veteran. CIMA, with no more Shingo Takagi and not really a Blood Generation any longer, was left with an aging Don Fujii, who did as he pleased, and Hulk. The duo formed the Blood Hearts team (OH I GET IT) and, along with American indy star Jack Evans, they won the Open the Triangle Gate trios titles in a tournament in August 2006. It came off as an odd booking decision that really only served to give Hulk some more experience at and around the main event. He would grow as consistently as is typical for him throughout 2006 and early 2007, always staying with CIMA who was without Shingo Takagi. Shingo, however, had gained a ton of momentum while away in the US. He had left on a high note with a string of hot matches and a new ally, and he quickly went from nothing to awesome in his Ring of Honor stint. It took some time for the fans to take to him but by the time the year had expired he was highly respected, had improved a lot, and even had an ROH World Title shot against another Japanese fellow on learning excursion: Takeshi Morishima. Shingo returned to Japan with valuable experience after having proven he could get over with the crowd in an entirely different wrestling scene and upon returning, he formed a new-blood style group called New Hazard consisting of Shingo himself as the leader, BxB Hulk stolen from CIMA’s new Typhoon super group (made of Do Fixer/PoS.HEARTS ashes and Susumu Yokosuka), and Shingo’s USA find: Cyber Kong. In New Hazard’s debut match as a trio, they challenged Typhoon of CIMA, Susumu, and King of Gate 2005 winner Ryo Saito for their Triangle Gate titles (YouTube again, it’s quite good). The theme of the match was of Shingo Takagi being the young leader clearly ready for the position while Hulk and Kong try to keep up and impress. The most memorable moment in the match is a battered BxB Hulk trying to fight off two or even three Typhoon members in futility for a few minutes with no help until Shingo finally steps in, fights them off of Hulk, and gives his friend a stiff slap to the back of the head. “Smarten up!” What are friends for? Hulk eventually did come back to earn Shingo and Kong’s assistance in what would turn out to be curtains for his emotive underdog persona because from the time Shingo pinned Ryo Saito to win the Triangle Gate onward, BxB Hulk was no longer the weak underdog. He became the proven young star that would dish back whatever anyone threw at him. Shingo and CIMA never truly became enemies. By July 2007, CIMA had won the Dream Gate at their big annual show known as World Gate. While Cyber Kong was in the mid-card gathering experience against mostly Muscle Outlaw’z members and BxB Hulk was tripping to larger stages in Japan like NOAH and NJPW where he would gain a reputation for making non-DG fans consider him the company’s biggest standout, Shingo had a Dream Gate shot against CIMA (YouTube! Good match, great finish) come Fall 2007 where he would go entirely toe-to-toe with the best wrestler in Dragon Gate only to have CIMA slip a crafty move on Shingo to grant him a successful defense. CIMA made a speech afterwards about how relieved he was to have beaten Dragon Gate’s top prospect but that he didn’t know if he could do it again if the time came. Yay foreshadowing! Around the same time, a Muscle Outlaw’z tag team of Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino went to NOAH and won the GHC Jr. Tag Titles, bringing them back to a Dragon Gate ring for their first defense against an incoming NOAH team. MO’z were successful. Next to step up? Why, it’s Shingo Takagi and BxB Hulk! In January 2008 in what turned out to be a very fun match (alright so just YouTube everything I guess) the New Hazard duo won, in a Dragon Gate ring, NOAH’s junior tag championship. This gave them sizeable exposure in the rest of the Japanese pro wrestling world and won them a strong identity as a tight partnership. After some successful defenses, they inevitably lost the belts to NOAH’s KENTA and Taiji Ishimori in March when Hulk was pinned, again taking place under a Dragon Gate roof. hay guyz nice beltz lol @ NOAH New Hazard, however, did still have the Triangle Gate with Cyber Kong and although they had recently had problems with their young buck, YAMATO, and watched him defect to Muscle Outlaw’z at this time, they were otherwise more than fine. This was a timely gain for MO’z as they were in the process of losing their "Speed Muscle" tag team of Doi and Yoshino due to gathering tensions, even amongst themselves until the duo reconciled all differences with each other after Masato Yoshino’s Dream Gate title shot against CIMA proved unsuccessful but spirited and extremely competitive nonetheless. Doi and Yoshino were on the verge of reclaiming a spot at the top of the tag team ladder and were more or less on their own. Come last month on May 14, the New Hazard trio were set to defend their Triangle Gate belts against a Muscle Outlaw’z team appropriately involving their new rising star YAMATO. Prior to the match, as a gesture of friendship to BxB Hulk, Shingo and Cyber Kong would accompany Hulk in his dancing entrance for the first time. When Hulk and the Hulk girls came out, BxB Kong and BxB Shingo followed wearing color variations of Hulk’s attire and looking extremely… well… Pimp. They entered the ring with Hulk in perfect formation and began the dancing, actually doing it quite well with Hulk-like smiles much to the crowd’s delight. Halfway through, Hulk turned to his friends, patting Kong on the shoulder in appreciation and shaking Shingo’s hand in friendship, but Shingo made him pay for his innocence. Shingo and Kong threw Hulk into the corner and beat him down quickly, puzzling the crowd and Hulk himself who was left looking up with a tragic expression to Shingo yelling at him from above. In came the Muscle Outlaw’z and off went the BxB costumes of Kong and Shingo to reveal MO’z colors. The deal was sealed with handshakes all around and the revealing of a new allied banner: Real Hazard. Thanks friend :) OH NO! :( YAMATO, you were so right to leave us that time. Still bros? The match hadn’t even begun and MO’z / Real Hazard leader Gamma was already proclaiming himself Triangle Gate champion since he would take Hulk’s position, but out came Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino in protest. They argued with DG officials until finally Real Hazard was removed of their belts and a match was made: Open the Triangle Gate: Shingo Takagi, YAMATO & Gamma vs. BxB Hulk, Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino It was as fiery as both Hulk and Shingo had ever been. Shingo had told everyone after the beatdown that Hulk was a weakling that cost them their tag titles and was no longer needed. Of course, Hulk was immediately on track to prove that that was a crock. The match was about sixteen minutes long and it’d be a safe bet to say that Shingo vs. Hulk was about six to eight of those. They largely went eye-for-an-eye, Shingo being a true heel for the first time since his Blood Generation years with CIMA. Fitting enough, then, for him to hijack some of Hulk’s signature moves to help get the Real Hazard team the win and the Triangle Gate title belts. Shingo betrayed and defeated Hulk. --- Now that July is approaching, the annual World Gate event is trying to take shape and the standard fare for the main event on the biggest show of the year is, of course, a Dream Gate title defense. CIMA had won it at the 2007 World Gate and is obviously set to have an unprecedented one-year anniversary title defense. Care to guess who will be in the #1 contender’s match? Two of Dragon Gate’s most successful trueborn talents? One of the most interesting rivalries, most dynamic friendships, and now most storied histories? What would be more fitting than Shingo Takagi vs. BxB Hulk III? They could not have timed this booking any better and why waste any time on buildup for their inevitable showdown? Everyone wants it and knows it’ll happen and, really, the buildup was happening since Hulk debuted in 2005. Three years is probably fine. So why not pull the trigger? Well, they’re apparently going to. There is one tiny (not at all tiny) issue, however… CIMA’s neck is toast. Look at that thing! Here’s a simple diagram that has been used on message boards to explain for those of you that can’t really tell what the problem is: One’s vertebrae are supposed to look like -X- -X- -X- -X- You know, instead of -X- -X- --X --X So that’s a little bit of a wrench in the cogs. I’ve heard reports that CIMA can barely wash his own hair because of the strain. He relegated himself to comedy matches to recover and after I think one light comedy match he cancelled his future matches. Except, somehow, not his title defense at World Gate. That’s still on the table. Your guess is as good as mine, quite frankly. I don’t even know. Shingo Takagi vs. BxB Hulk is still going to happen on June 29. The layers speak for themselves and if they don’t then I’m hoping I just spoke for them. There’s Shingo vs. Hulk obviousness, Hulk vs. CIMA intrigue which would be a first time ever Blood Hearts match, and then the CIMA vs. Shingo sequel now that Shingo is back on his bad side unseen since Blood Generation with CIMA. And CIMA claiming last defense that he might not be able to beat Shingo again… To me, there’s far too much going on here for CIMA to think that he could be hurting World Gate by staying home or even by forfeiting the title. Maybe Shingo beats Hulk on June 29 (I’d predict as much regardless but I’d prefer Hulk vs. CIMA if that could happen) only to have CIMA forfeit the belt and give it to Shingo by default, prompting Hulk or even Naruki Doi to cry foul and set up Shingo’s first title defense at World Gate. What’s wrong with that? I really hate to see CIMA risk his career and his limb functionality thinking he doesn’t want to ruin everything but so far that’s what’s on the table. Of course, there’s still a lot of time. Maybe they’re waiting to make an announcement until after the #1 contender is decided but no matter what, the reality is that the focus wouldn’t be on him either way. It’s on Hulk and Shingo. Their upcoming match and the inevitable match provided one of them becomes Dream Gate champion in July. There really isn’t much left to be said. I’ve been waiting for this Shingo vs. Hulk egg to hatch this beautifully for ages and I can’t wait to watch it unfold. How could I? After three years of wonderful booking for both stars, what would be more awesome, for example, than either Hulk or Shingo winning the 2008 King of Gate to earn a title shot against the other? It’s pretty clear that what has been happening with the two stars this year wasn’t being considered three years ago, but it goes to show you how some things just write themselves and all it takes is one smart move to bring all that organized booking to a roaring climax. And I can’t help but look at Dragon Gate’s new up-and-comers right now and leading up to the end of the year. Three years ago it was all about established veterans Ryo Saito and Susumu Yokosuka finally squaring off at the top of the card and now those two are CIMA’s strongest allies and Open the Twin Gate tag champions. Now that Shingo and Hulk are there, who takes their place? Is YAMATO stepping up? What about Cyber Kong? And new Dragon Gate trueborn talent M.C. KZ is fresh from his learning excursion in Mexico (how familiar!) and has aligned with Hulk, Doi, Yoshino, and former Do Fixer member Naoki Tanizaki to form the new group WORLD-1. Is KZ the new “it” boy? He was the standout member of the Dragon Gate NEX young group and they have sent him away. And even aside from all of them, where are Hulk and Shingo going to be in three more years? They won't even be 30 years old! One thing that rings clear through all of this intrigue is that Dragon Gate continues to successfully evolve while their new blood rises and the former fresh blood is only not fresh when being compared to what’s new. *** What do you think? Please email me at Derekanrana@hotmail.com with any thoughts or comments. Thanks! Pics are either from F-Arrow or UltimoTG. Or Shingo's blog. Email this Author
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