Dragon Kid, Magnum TOKYO & SAITO vs. Judo Suwa, Shiima Nobunaga & Sumo Fuji

[8.0] "It's always so interesting to me to go back to early matches in notable feds and see how complete they were out of the gate. There is a bit of clunkiness and they are all clearly working it out but the structures and characters and beats are all there. Add in a bit for historical significance and this is worth your time, if not a classic to return to after seeing once. ****"

[10.0] "An epic match that is a great starting off point for watching Toryumon/Dragon Gate, as all six are major players and they introduce themselves in the ring, with distinct characters and movesets, and then once they sufficiently established themselves and their conflict, deliver an exciting resolution. Standalone, it's a damn good match, and in context of introducing Toryumon to a new viewer, it's an amazing feat of in-ring storytelling."

[8.0] "Japan is OFFICIALLY introduced to six of the craziest wrestlers to ever grace its arenas. Magnum TOKYO is an easy fan favorite because of his captivating persona. Women of every age and creed were putting in cash right in his junk like he was Michael Jackson on a love potion. They all went nuts for him. To the match itself, TOKYO and Judo SUWA start off and it is typical technical supremacy from SUWA, but TOKYO holds his own. At this point, anyone who has seen this match at least knows of the marvel that is Magnum TOKYO's offence, so I guess that is a no brainer on how that type of sequence would go at that point. An early usage of the cravate from what I've seen of SUWA. I wonder if that's how Hero got the hold from. At 5 minutes, SAITO (aka Super Shisa) and Don Fujii would grace the ring. Fujii with his charisma and hard-hits and SAITO with his flashy llave antics. This was not the Wild Cranky Husky(tm) that we know Fujii from mostly: this is a more fresh, aggressive and no-nonsense-to-the-core Fujii. SAITO nails this brutal-looking calf-crusher into the original SAITO Special. He then hits a raised chickenwing lock into a crucifix, which is typical but still greatly impressive of SAITO. The intensity picks up from that, especially with a Flying Mare from SAITO and the start of the Kid-CIMA sequence. It's fast, so you wouldn't want to miss anything. A boot-rake and a taunt to the shorter Kid, and CIMA immediately certifies himself as the big cocky heel. Kid does a few flips to get out of a wrist-lock, and a beautiful dropkick is sent through to CIMA. The Michinoku Pro & Samurai Pro veteran does his duty with an Atomico, but its levelled from a front tijeras from Kid. Wondrous stuff. An early Deja-Vu absolutely gets tanked, but it is no problem for the intensity of this match (thanks TARU). SUWA is in and he does the fastest Forearm Uppercut I've seen in ages. Manhattan Drop, an emphasis on dick-strikes and a devastating catapult to SAITO, and Crazy MAX are on top again. TOKYO shows off more and more, and the crowd eat everything he does. A stunner and TOKYO is loving the new-found love. CIMA and Kid go again, and CIMA is easily the aggressor. A Deja-Vu finally works, and a pop-up Mysterio Tijeras gets nailed. Quebrada from Kid and the crowd is loving it. Pescado from Fujii nearly gets messed up. Swandive block from SAITO, and SUWA and CIMA go for double Tope Suicidas, which work. And TOKYO is finally up, and he nails a perfect Asai Moonsault that even Ultimo was stunned to see. "He did it better than me! ", he'd say to his fellow commentator. SAITO is thrown into the Lion's Den, and is getting the hugest amount of damage from Crazy MAX. An elevated wheelbarrow nails SAITO nearly on the chin. A spinning heel kick to SAITO on the apron. You don't see that as much from CIMA anymore, which is a shame. The silver-haired TARU is acting as fourth-fiddle in this match as the manager of the group, and he helps out with a leapfrog attack. CIMA is acting like a fool immediately after he nails a superb knee strike to TOKYO. The usual shenanigans happen afterwards, but it picks up greatly. Kid gets a Super Tijeras and he immediately takes out the entirety of Crazy MAX, and TOKYO helps out superbly. A Frankensteiner nearly gets SUWA to be paralyzed (it's eerie to say, but that's actually what occurred). A classic swing DDT and it gets going again. Kid gets SUWA into a Ultra Rana, and immediately looks to his patent Dragonrana, which hits to the shock and amazement of the crowd. SUWA is out. Fujii is in and he gets folded into a SAITO-style small package hold. Ultimo gets rushing into the ringside. A low blow and Fujii is in control. An excellent scoop powerslam later, and Fujii is nearly tapping out to a Juji-gatame. CIMA is desperate to get a break in, but it is TARU who saves Fujii from certain disaster by pulling his leg into the ropes. CIMA helps out with a Venus and Iconoclasm. Fujii nails a top-rope Nodowa Otoshi, and SAITO is out. A classic front dropkick from Kid, and he is in control of Fujii. I would go on and on more about this match, but the crux of the biscuit is that this match is all of the shenanigans you'd expect from an early Toryumon match of this caliber. It's a nice way to close the show, but it definitely went too long. Shouts to all for their benefit to this other-wise wondrous sequence of everything."

[6.0] "There is a lot of good in this but it is too long and there are a lot of uninteresting parts that held this back and ruin its flow. Instead of using the elimination stip to get things going and then have a hot finish they tried to have a longer first fall."

[8.0] "This one was an excellent main event to end the first show of Toryumon Japan. Crazy MAX did a great job during the whole match, and Dragon Kid's babyface performance was awesome. He was the only one who was very dangerous for Crazy MAX so we had some interferences to eliminate him, it was very logical, like every interference of this match. We had a great intensity here from bell to bell, and every wrestler involved gave a great performance. I'm more than satisfied by this match. ****"

[8.0] "An awesome match, perfect main event to encapsulated the style and what direction they are going with. Magnum TOKYO with a great performance along with SHIIMA. I did think the match had some pacing flaws due to the length which may take away somewhat, but this was still a riot. ****"

[7.0] "The first ever Dragon Gate/Toryumon main even was pretty good. It didn't need to be 45 damn minutes long, but it showcased the iconic DG style very well. The match had its dull parts, which were usually when the less interesting members of the match (Fuji and Suwa) would be in control. Everything from their look to their wrestling style was off-putting. This was obviously by design, in order to get them over as heels, but it still irked me. Shiima (Cima) was a fantastic heel on the other hand. He was clearly having a blast annoying his opponents and showing off to the crowd, What made his heel work so compelling was that he was clearly a very great wrestler who didn't need to use heel tactics to gain the advantage, so the fact that he still chose to play the heel made him even more detestable. He would also impress with some spectacular if over-the-top bumps, and his general selling was very sympathetic, because at the end of the day he was clearly actually a natural babyface. Magnum was pretty great too, showing off some fantastic athleticism and entertaining arrogance of his own, yet he played up 'for' the crowd rather than Shiima who played up 'against' the crowd. Really Magnum should have been the heel star and Shiima the babyface star, since I already explained how Shiima was a very sympathetic figure, and also because Magnum didn't come across nearly as sympathetic and actually felt rather distant. Saito was cool, but spent far too much time just being beaten up. Dragon Kid was great too, but only showed off a fraction of his abilities. There were plenty of cool, creative lucha exchanges here, which also meant we got a few botches and awkward moments, but nothing that seriously detracted. At one point Shiima accidentally became the underdog babyface as he got busted open and had to face Magnum and DK 1v2, but luckily the rest of Crazy Max interfered to get the heel heat back. A very solid first Toryumon/DG main event. ***1/2"