[7.0] "Dragon Gate gave us a properly good show for their 1st Korakuen of 2019, as opposed to the previous 2 shows which made tape and were relatively lacklustre. Opening tag was too brief and meaningless to rate. U-T vs Yoshioka was an alright match. U-T showed off his impressive grappling while Yoshioka had some decent power moves. Very tricky, quick pin trading at the end. ***. Fuji, Minoura, & Watanabe vs Eita, Kanda, & Yoshida was fine. The rookies looked good (Watanabe had some impressive bumps) and Fuji played a fun enforcer roll, but was ultimately too broken down, giving R. E. D the advantage. **1/2. The MaxiMuM vs R. E. D 8-man tag was actually my MOTN, since it had the great pace and crazy number of run-ins and back-and-forth big move exchanges that I love. We also got the Big Ben breakup pushed to the forefront, which was quite shocking. ***1/2. Skywalker vs Ishida was the best of the Rookie Tournament matches. Nice dynamic with Skywalker's high-flying vs Ishida's strikes, and some fun spots all around. ***1/4-***1/2. Natural Vibes vs Tribe Vanguard was another pretty fun match. Kzy once again looked great, especially as he got the pin over Yamato - his third big win of the year. Kagetora was also very impressive here with the number of demanding and complex spots he managed to pull off. ***1/4-***1/2. Mochizuki vs Kondo was a bit disappointing and didn't go as long as I expected it too, but it was still quite good and barely missed out on being MOTN. Both men targeted a limb relating to the other's preferred strike (leg for Mochizuki, arm for Kondo), which I enjoyed, but sadly both men dropped the limb-focus and selling by the end of the match. Still, we managed to at least get a bunch of great strikes from both of them, and Mochizuki gave a good performance generally selling his bewildered, dazed state while eating Kondo's big attacks. There were a few awkward moments of chemistry but nothing too bad. ***1/2"

[7.0] "What I watched : Yoshioka vs U-T. A solid enough match, the crowd wasn? t really into it early but they managed to create nice near falls at the end of the match. U-T came off as a much more rounded wrestler than Yoshioka, thus making Yoshioka? s win feel a bit undeserved. ***1/2 R. E. D vs MaxiMuM : in what sesmed to be a theme of the night, this started out slow and the first 10 minutes or so, filled with classic WWE-style of control by RED weren? t really that engaging, despite the character work and a few highlights moments. But once it got started, this got awesome in a true DG fashion and made for pretty good match. ***3/4 Skywalker vs Ishida : these two youngsters just had the MOTN where they both felt like incomplete workers (Kaito no selling the leg work, even if it wasn? t the focus of the match, things getting a bit repetitive toward the end and Skywalker? s fighting spirit moments being a bit corny) but despite this, this was full of fire and very exciting with an engaged crowd and providing some really awesome sequences and moves. A good match ! **** Tribe Vanguard vs Natural Vibes : a rather great sprint with almost non-stop action and Kzy being on fire, his interactions with YAMATO being a clear highlight. Just a ton of fun ! ***3/4, very near the **** mark. Mochi vs Kondo : a really weird match, they worked a pretty dull arm vs leg work match for the first 10 minutes and it was rather pedestrian, moreso because they never sold the said limb work which was kinda disappointing and made 2/3 of the match look useless. But at the 10 min mark, they started to throw bombs and it was awesomely stiff, delivering an almost MOTYC level last 5 minutes with a totally hot crowd who seemed to be waiting for that since the beginning. A tale of two matches really and I can? t call it great, but the stuff after the 10 min mark is too great to be ignored. ***3/4"

[7.0] "Good show with the Rookie tournament finals stealing the show imo. Skywalker and Ishida are sure fire future staples in the promotion as they put on a really good match here, ****. Kzy got the upset win over YAMATO in the semi-main which led to him making the challenge to PAC for the OTDG. Main event was really good with the only negatives being some chemistry issues and the crowd not being into Kondo for obvious reasons, ****."