| 1 | 27.07.2024 | Firebird22 | 8.0 | |
| 2 | 16.09.2022 | Crippler Crossface | 7.0 | |
| 3 | 03.08.2022 | EleceRock | 7.0 | This could easily have been a 8 or a 9 in my book but thar ref bump spot killed it a bit for me, save those silly spots for the undercards or smaller shows, not for a main even/main title match in one of the big shows... still, good match is we ignore that spot. |
| 4 | 09.06.2022 | TotemKiller1 | 7.0 | |
| 5 | 14.04.2022 | DerHitman | 8.0 | |
| 6 | 06.04.2022 | jboyaquar | 6.0 | Is that enormous weapon Ben-K brings-to-the-ring-with-him a Japanese scythe? Perhaps the only weapon he needs is that power, b/c after being thoroughly out-grappled for the first six minutes or-so, he picked Yamato-up and literally threw him out-of-the-ring. Yet even-that absurdity could not rouse this dead Sendai crowd into concern for their Tohuku native. (I've attended events from the Sun Plaza, sat on-the-floor and in the rafters, and when full, noise travels pretty-well there. Maybe they just love following Covid-rules.) I didn't mind the length, but what I did mind was Yamato's complete inability to be conscientious of selling what Ben-K has spent minutes working-on, his ribs, during his comeback and late offensive assault. It's like, 'It's my time to now be on-offense, and what came-before doesn't matter.' Strange, b/c I thought his roots are in MMA. And then there was Kai; didn't Yamato put-an-end to-that in July? I shouldn't be just negative, because I did appreciate the tight action, Ben-K's grip preventing Y's Frankensteiner, and that Ben-K never hit his spear again so-that the move was kept strong. It was just lifeless. These two deserved a better crowd and Ben-K deserves an opponent who bothers-to-sell what his audience spent time watching. 2 5/6 - 3 |
| 7 | 29.01.2022 | BH62 | 7.0 | That's a good wrestling match, no doubt about it. They know each other very well and showed it very well. Nevertheless, that was overlong for what it was or just they didn't arrived to keep it interesting for nearly 30 minutes. Great technical and grappling wrestling. Meticulous one. Goal was to put the opponent in difficulty and then humilate him. If that went like 20-22 minutes, that would have been excellent. KAI's intervention was that interesting also. |
| 8 | 11.01.2022 | pierreMinne | 7.0 | Very good match here, it's probably YAMATO's weakest title defense but it stills such an interesting match with the booking possibilites it offers to us. Some counters were great, they showed they know well each other since they're in the same stable, and the interference of KAI to help Ben-K is such an interesting thing. I think it can bring us back a heel Ben-K in R.E.D, but we will see, and that interests me. ***3/4 |
| 9 | 28.12.2021 | SuperG77 | 9.0 | |
| 10 | 14.12.2021 | pecohaj | 9.0 | This was very methodical, always to the point of being a chess-game. They did well with the little time they had to build this up, the Kai shenanigans was short and effective, this was a fantastic match. If it were not for Corona and a rather silent Sendai crowd. this would go down as one of the all-time great title matches. With what it was, it is still a solid 9/10 and would have been a 10/10 if Ben-K was already back to 100% health after his concussion. |
| 11 | 08.12.2021 | Kishikaisei37x | 8.0 | |
| 12 | 04.12.2021 | arrancar | 6.0 | There was some hard work here, but with one of the worst clap-crowds ever seen (even by clap-crowd standards), plus a totally generic Dream Gate formula, this was quite a slog to get through. It started with some slow grappling exchanges, all of which I enjoyed because of the attention to detail, and I liked how they then meshed the traditional technical-wrestling exchanges in as well. The match then opened up as Ben-K mercilessly hurled Yamato out of the ring, and he then assumed control by targeting Yamato's ribs. Ben-K's targeting was good, looking very damaging and wide-ranging, and Yamato's real-time selling was very good. Sadly, DG's established stars still can't perform long-term selling even as they become supposedly wise veterans, as Yamato completely blew Ben-K's ribs-targeting work off whenever Ben-K wasn't immediately working them over. This was massively disappointing, with Yamato not even doing the bare minimum of hunching over or softly supporting his ribs every now and then after a big attack in order to remind us of Ben-K's extensive work. Instead, all that work was completely wasted, as Yamato simply started hitting a bunch of (admittedly extremely well-timed) counters to put himself back on equal footing with Ben-K. There was also perhaps one of the stupid ref-bump segments I've ever seen, as Ben-K accidentally took the ref out, and then Kai (who must be a fortune-teller because he was already in a ref's outfit....) immediately came out and gave a rushed 3-count before proclaiming that Ben-K had won and demanding the time-keeper call the bell. Saito and others then ran Kai off, but I can't for the life of me figure out what Kai wished to accomplish here, and it's completely stupid trying to imagine how he could have foreseen and planned any of this. Excusing that ridiculously stupid spot, the match then slotted back into the generic Dream Gate formula of big-move trades and excessive near falls and finisher kick-outs before Yamato finally got the win. These generic exchanges could have been better if the Sendai crowd wanted to show even the slightest bit of interest, but they instead decided to be near-silent for the majority of the match, even when both guys were busting out their big moves towards the end. I get that the crowd was getting a very generic and thus not super exciting match, but they paid to be there, so I'm confused why they didn't at least clap louder or SOMETHING to make this match feel remotely exciting. I appreciated the physicality both wrestlers showed at points, but everything else in this match -- from the structure, to the story, to the atmosphere -- was below average at best. *** |
| 13 | 01.12.2021 | Judestar | 7.0 | |
| 14 | 29.11.2021 | seriousbusiness | 8.0 | Nice to see Ben back in the Dream Gate scene even if he isn't seen as a top guy anymore sadly. Very good title match between stable mates of power vs experience with the champ persevering and finding chinks in Ben's armor. The KAI segment was dumb though and felt straight out of WWE. |
| 15 | 29.11.2021 | Rudakov | 7.0 | Some of the moments were fire, but overall I think it's the weakest YAMATO defense so far. Ben-K sure can strike, spear and throw people really impressively, but this match showed that his main problem is still flow of the fight. This bout felt more like Ben-K vs. PAC match then Ben vs. Doi, which is arguably his best single match so far. I hope Ben can find his style, but in that case I did not really enjoyed how he paced his offense and most of the times fight felt very flat. YAMATO was great, btw. And KAI's segment was kinda lame, but I think it's quite unique and fun in general, so I don't mind. The thing that I totally "mind" is match's length, it should've been a bit shorter. ***3/4 |
| 16 | 29.11.2021 | Mohabrok | 10.0 | Great match and one of the best dream gate matches this year, Ben-K worked great as a monster and was really good in destroying YAMATO back, loved the near falles in the last minutes and the finish was good, highly recommended |
| 17 | 29.11.2021 | boymeetsworld | 8.0 | I guess the goal here was to make Ben-K look he's still on the level of the Dream Gate title (of course he is), so this was a very competitive match between two equals, but there could be only one winner. Somewhere around 20 minutes mark, there was a strange spot when the ref took a bump and then KAI showed up, and right after Ben-K hit YAMATO with a Spear, he slid into the ring and fast-counted 3, but Ryo Saito DID NOT LIKED THAT and soon KAI was out of there. After that they had even more near-falls, and in the end YAMATO outlasted Ben-K. This match was 'really good, but not great', and that overbooking wasn't the only reason for that. |
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