Kzy vs. Shun Skywalker

[8.0] "Kzy wanted to avenge his loss against Skywalker the year prior in Kobe, and even though he had the advantage during the first minutes, he quickly lost it. His risky and dangerous move and attacks created a flow for Skywalker to dive into. Therefore, he put on quite a domination on Kzy, as the latter's selling was great. It was like a psychopath playing with his next victim. The build-up to Kzy's comeback was pretty interesting, and Skywalker's work made the comeback even better. It's always cool to watch a Kzy fight, because he will always surprise everyone with creative and intense moves. Their chemistry certainly elevated the bout's quality as well. Some sequences looked very smooth. The finish is frustrating, but that's completely its aim. Kzy was about to get the advantage again, as desperate moments call desperate decisions. That's why Z-Brats is the top heel faction in Dragon Gate. A superb contest in terms of in-ring action, but also of the quality of the story told. Great stuff."

[7.0] "Oh and how I thought this was the time KZY would finally get his just-due against Shun. Late-going this match had me really rallying for the (seemingly longtime) hard-suffering Natural Vibes leader who just can't ever seem to get over-the-hump? I wonder how the man feels watching the similarly sized, much-less tenured and seemingly not-as-marketable Yoshioka get pushed to the Dream Gate moon? Thankfully Shun necessitated cheating to beat him, but I thought this was going-to-be KZY's night. Really rollicking stuff late during a well-portioned third-act as Shun's relentless torturing of KZY will continue both in-ring & online all-throughout the summer. 3 2/5 7.2"

[7.0] "Their Kobe World match from 2021 was very good but I was confused to see it receive DG MOTY comments (especially since I thought Skywalker vs Yamato the next night was far better). This match, however, I'm pretty confident in saying is my 2022 DG MOTY so far. It had a really good pace that went through the appropriate highs and lows that allowed for lots of exciting spots and exchanges while also telling a coherent story with engaging psychology. Their chemistry here was flawless, and every exchange they dished out had great impact. Kzy showed great intensity and aggression early on, showing how desperate he was to avenge his title-challenge loss from the prior year in order to prove that he should still be considered a top guy in the company. I liked how the story became that Kzy's intense desire for revenge was causing him to overcommit on risky attacks, thus opening himself up to Skywalker countering him and then gaining control for himself. Skywalker's calm but confident and methodical heel control work looked very nasty and painful, with Kzy's babyface-selling complimenting it all very nicely. Kzy showed exciting fiery defiance as he built up towards his comeback, and I really enjoyed seeing Skywalker become more and more brutal and overwhelming with his beatdown work to try ensure that Kzy would struggle even to get to his knees. Kzy's eventual comeback was very fun, featuring all his fantastic signature moves which contributed towards giving Skywalker a very cathartic big beating. Their run-on exchanges, sudden counters, and individual flurry attacks were all very smooth and impactful, also featuring a good degree of creativity, too. I enjoyed the reference to Kzy's big monkey flip bump to the floor from their Kobe World match, with Kzy this time managing to avoid it and instead hit Skywalker with a big superplex back in the ring, reflecting his progress made since that match. Their second lot of rapid big-move trades were once again very exciting, executed with perfect technique and tremendous impact. The way they traded control back and forth so quickly while still creating many convincing near falls was great, with it (excitingly) never being clear exactly who was going to get the win. The screwed finish with the Z-Brats distraction and Skywalker smashing Kzy with the chair for the cheap win was very deflating, but the story told was that Kzy had indeed progressed since their last match, thus Skywalker could only win via cheating, so I enjoyed that story. And besides, that disappointing finish didn't stop this still easily being my DG MOTY so far. ***3/4"

[9.0] "I really enjoyed this match a lot, the pace was killer and the spots were great, this was the best King Of Gate Match so far."

[8.0] "Unsurprisingly, these two had another good match. They showed their Dream Gate chemistry wasn't just a one off, and that they have the ability to make a late tournament bout feel like a title match with the way they structure the match. Unfortunately the ending is shit."

[9.0] "These 2 killed it again. Started out interesting with Kzy actually getting the advantage on Shun but he recovered and started breaking him down. I still cant get over how much I like Shun just being the bully in matches nowadays. Kzy's comeback in the match was awesome as expected but he seemed even more motivated to beat Shun here. A lot of callbacks in this as well including them teasing the insane monkey flip onto the floor which got me good. Kzy reversal of the SSW was amazing too. Great match that was just a step below their one last year. Only thing I didnt love was the finish. I get it I really do especially with how the results had gone so far but FUCKKKKKKKKK it didnt sit well with me lol. Still love this **** 1/2"