Kota Minoura vs. Yuki Yoshioka

[8.0] "Yuki 24 hours after wining the belt makes his first defense of his title run, the match was very good with kota working as a obnoxious heel with very convincing facial expressions being the guy who gets everything handed to him while Yuki the valiant Baby Face who works hard and earned everything by wining chipped away at kota's defense with several high impact moves until the finish with his always great looking frog splash. A fine match for the Kobe world main event."

[7.0] "This had a really generic Dream Gate "bombfest" structure, but those bombs were still impressive enough to make this a really good match, and it was better than their previous King of Gate finals meeting. This was the first Kobe World show main-evented by 2 of DG's new generation of stars, with Yoshioka having debuted 6 years ago and Minoura only 4 years ago. There were no remnants of the DG "big 6" here, nor were there any 'outsiders' like Pac or Kai. This was the new generation's chance to prove they could carry the DG spirit onwards into the new era, and while they didn't produce an amazing match here to have the whole puroresu scene talking, they definitely proved that they have the skills to keep the exciting DG style alive in the years to come. After some essentially filler grappling exchanges to open, their interactions became much more interesting as they picked up the pace and went back and forth trading and countering moves, especially when they did so at a rapid speed. Some of their individual exchanges and spots became quite creative, though at the end of the day they were still working a pretty generic "bombfest" formula where they mostly just took turns hitting each other with big moves over and over until it resulted in a near fall or with both men knocked down for a while. Minoura's heelish aggression continued to be an interesting change to -- and development of -- his game, and he played it quite well with how arrogant, physical, and occasionally even cheap he was on offence, plus how despicable and slimy he was when on defence. Yoshioka played a good valiant and fiery babyface in response, drawing good sympathy when on the receiving end and creating good excitement when working on top. They definitely went overkill with just how many finishers and 'big' moves they hit each other with one after the other, and which were often met with minimal selling, but all those moves were still performed was really good technique, and some of those moves were even pretty great. A few of those finishers and big moves were hit a bit sloppily, but that was only a minority of them. The important thing was that they still had me hooked, since I was unsure which man ever had enough of the momentum to get the win, and I at least kept thinking that each next finisher/big move and pinfall might finally be the end. They both also at least increased the extent to which they sold their growing exhaustion and diminishing power/physicality, which allowed this to still feel like a hard-fought battle despite how overkill and 'no-selly' they often got. Making and then keeping Yoshioka as Dream Gate champ over these 2 days of Kobe World was the best option, so I'm glad about that. I'm not sure how Yoshioka will draw as champ, given how relatively quickly his push and especially his singles push this year was, but I really like him as a character and worker, so I'm hoping he does well and gets booked properly from here on. ***1/2"

[8.0] "This was really good, about on par with their King of Gate final match from a couple of months ago. I'm here for the Yuki era."

[8.0] "If we're lucky, these two are destined to do this forever. The match didn't break new ground, but they have such great chemistry and play off of each other so well. Solid main. I'm quite pleased."

[8.0] "I could complain about the formulaic main event style of Japan but I thought this was a strong example of that. They didn? t rest on the bare basics, instead crafting smart sequences that? ll undoubtedly be used for years down the line in future main events between the two. Kota Minoura, for once, came off like a real main event act with some spark and individuality behind his offence. His crossface submission hold was a credible drama builder that he was able to get from plentiful positions, even from mid-air, countering Yoshioka? s frog splash. Yoshioka worked from beneath in the match, always one step behind Minoura in the match but his selling was strong enough that the fans were hooked into his performance. Yoshioka? s confidence and sense of toughness consistently came through his facial expressions and body language. He smacked Minoura for an elbow hard but his expressions told all the story before it manifested into that one strike. The finish didn? t go for the ? kick-out? route either, preferring to put over Yoshioka? s Darkness Buster and Frog Splash as big, main event level moves. Yoshioka knowing not to rush the final Frog Splash, instead preferring to soak the moment in before hitting it, gives me all the confidence that Yoshioka will do just fine as Dream Gate Champion going forward. ****"