Shingo Takagi vs. YAMATO

[10.0] "What a beatiful closer from this feud. After dead or alive we are here with an absolute banger. The struggle is real and yamato not dying after taking multiple hit is beatiful"

[7.0] "A very Nice and well put together match that is being help back by the lack of psychology. Takagi's Offense is absolutely incredible here as he plays a the dominant heel role perfectly. But when it comes to selling his opponents offense it takes you out the match completely"

[7.0] "This was good but what ruined it for me was pacing. In the first 20 minutes 3 notable things happened and everything else was just a filler. Then the match progressively got better. The finishing sequence was really good and the last 5 minutes were very good. *** 3/4"

[10.0] "This match fucking rules. Shingo is like the greatest bully heel in wrestling history in this era. This match has plenty of cool moves and exciting spots but that is not what its about. The connective tissue is the real good stuff. The body language and facial expressions and the personal dynamic between the wrestlers as Shingo dominates YAMATO totally. Honestly my one criticism of this match is that I thought they laid a lot of good groundwork with YAMATOs submissions that might have pointed toward a more believable finish than the one that actually happened. ****3/4"

[10.0] "Shingo and Yamato were teammates in the VerserK stable, but Yamato was kicked out and formed Tribe Vanguard with BxB Hulk, Kzy and Yosuke Santa Maria, meanwhile turning face. Shingo dominated the match to an extent, aiming to destroy Yamato using brutal moves like the Death Valley Driver on the apron, Superplex outside the ring and the Sit-out Piledriver. Yamato's desire to defeat his former teammate and current rival was conveyed by the moments he didn't let him complete his mission, cutting him down with a Cross Armbreaker or Sleeper hold. The nearfalls were excellent, made to keep you breathless. Even though the match went over 30 minutes, it didn't feel very long."

[9.0] "Very good match, it took a while to start, and the crowd was a little quiet, but as soon as they started the match it was incredible, several incredible nearfalls, especially the Last Falconry, and the first Gallaria, and the closing stretch of the minutes finals were very good too. **** 1/2"

[0.0] "This was another dull-as-dishwater Dragon Gate match. It has the same formula as 99% of Dragon Gate singles matches; one guy will do a bunch of moves, then the other guy will do a bunch of moves, they'll do some back-and-forth, and then they'll do a finish. And there was no rhyme or reason, no kind of logic behind anything. There was nothing in this match that mattered beyond the moment that it was done in. If you came into this match at, for example, the twenty-minute mark, you would have no idea how much time had passed or if any time passed, because there was nothing but the most momentary of selling."

[9.0] "One thing that stood out to me was how quiet the crowd was at the beginning of the match. They picked up by the end but jesus, they were silent aside from women screaming for YAMATO. Anyway, this was a real good match. Both are great wrestlers and they worked the match pretty well. They built to the ending great, upping the anty with every second. YAMATO being a great babyface, selling all of Shingo's offence well. Great finale with Shingo finally losing the title after a long reign and YAMATO getting his revenge after being kicked out of VerserK. Awesome match. ****Œ"

[10.0] "The era of Shingo Takagi on top finally comes to an end. The match had a very compelling story going into it as YAMATO was earlier kicked out of Shingo's group, so then the former goes on to win King Of Gate and challenge the latter for his prestigious title. Shingo controlled most of the match, at least for half of it, but YAMATO put on the performance of his career in this match in every way. His selling was top notch, he did great work on trying to work Shingo's arm (who no sold it by the end), and his urgency to win made the match all the more compelling. The final ten minutes are just a blast with each guy going all out against each other including kicking out of and stealing each others finishers. Finally YAMATO hits the Gallaria for a second time for the win and title, ****3/4."

[10.0] "This was a classic. A great mix of psychology, pace, story, stiff strikes and a INCREDIBLE finishing stretch. I remember to watch this last year, but on the re-watch, just turn to be amazing. One of the hiden gens of 2016. *****"

[7.0] "The first 10 minutes were a rather dull feeling-out phase. Yamato laid out work on Shingo’s arm, but it wasn't intriguing. The arm work featured sporadically for the rest of the match anyways, and Shingo's lack of selling for the majority of the match made it overall quite pointless. Shingo’s strength was really impressive in his strikes and power moves. He clobbered Yamato and carried himself like a beast. Yamato was trying to get revenge on Shingo, his old friend who betrayed him, but very few match moments hinted at any important story, especially since Yamato, despite being technically impressive, felt so emotionless. The slow pace sharply contrasted with the intense previous matches. However, in typical Dragon Gate style, when things finally picked up they went overkill, with far too many moves executed in such quick succession without time to breathe. There wasn’t enough time to digest what was happening because it felt like no single move or moment got the proper attention it required in order to feel important. Excluding some physically impressive moments there were really no moments at all during the finishing stretch or even the final few minutes that created a sense of intensity for me. For a match with such a supposedly important story it really seemed to lack a lot of important psychology. The moves themselves were quite impressive and still pushed this to being a very good match, but I was really expecting a lot more due to the hype surrounding this. ***3/4"

[7.0] "Used to absolutely love this but on a re-watch of it I don't as much. The match really lacked some fire or intensity from either competitor although YAMATO sold the beating dished out by SHINGO really well. I like the story they were telling but something about this just didn't click for me to call it a GREAT match or even really good at that. The no selling by SHINGO really didn't help either. Solid match overall though. (***)"

[10.0] "As the first time I have watched a full Dragon Gate show, this was a great main event, it was a huge spectacle and you could feel the history of both fighters in the story they told in the ring. The title change capped off an amazing experiance."

[9.0] "This is definitely a great match, though I do not quite see it at MOTY level. Impressive action and stayed engaging despite a long run time, which DG main events are sometimes not able to do. You could feel these two knew each other well which played into the story just right. Epic feel to this struggle and a well earned title change!"

[8.0] "Although D Gate has been trying to tell me that Shingo has been a monster champion for about a year I would heartily disagree. All was well until that debacle that was the Gamma defense last December. Since then Shingo has lost/regained the title, and been pinned far more than a champ with this moniker should be. Yamato's 'the coolest' but not the finest babyface this side of Cena as he lacks the outgoing persona and easily felt deep well of a heart that is required from the best babyfaces. Thus this main event did not excite me as much as most. Though Yamato did go back to his work-the-arm schtick, ('Dead-or Alive-Nagoya 2010, ) Shingo hit far too many Pumping Bombers and broke free from Y's sleeper & a Frankensteiner attempt using the strength of the fulcrum of that 'worked' right arm for the psychology to be of a great match. Certainly it was exciting, and I liked them doing the AJ/Tana hit-each-others finishers, but having attended Ishii/Okada-Omega/Naito & this live I can confidently state this was the one that did not transcend to that elite stratosphere. 7. 75"

[10.0] "Loved this match. The story going into the match was fantastically executed by both guys. I loved how Shingo got frustrated in this match because YAMATO had an answer for everything he brought. I loved YAMATO's armwork here, but if Shingo sold it better this could've been a 5 star classic. The finish was insane as well. (****3/4)"

[10.0] "Great match and for me Dragon Gate MOTY 2016. A lot of actions and storytelling beetwen two aces of DG. ****3/4 in star ratings."

[8.0] "I have never watched Dragon Gate before, nor have I seen any of these two guys. But still, this was an awesome watch with both these guys hitting each other with a plethora of sick moves and still getting back up. Towards the end of the match they put their foot on the gas and really dished out signatures after signatures one after the other. Sometimes it gets too much, since after all the sickly moves they are hitting each other with, no one is selling the pain. That took my out of the match, but still I loved it enough to keep an eye out for these two guys in the future."

[10.0] "This was easily the best Dream Gate title match since Mochi/Shingo. YAMATO kicked out from Last Falconry and multiple Pumping Bombers, and Shingo kicked out of Gallaria, but he didn't survive the second one. Outstanding work from both guys, great heat, awesome storytelling- what more do you want from the main event of your biggest show of the year? This was a match of the year contender for sure. **** 3/4."

[9.0] "Despite not being too familiar with Dragon Gate or its storylines, even I could tell that this was an excellent main event. This was two guys with a great deal of history throwing everything they had at each other. The story was interesting as it was an inversion of the typical heel/face dynamic: Shingo went for the big heavy power moves while Yamato tried to work his arm in preparation for the cross armbreaker. The counters were smooth and there were some crazy spots here that I've either rarely seen or have never seen before. However, there was a surprising sense of restraint here. I was afraid they were going to go overkill on the nearfalls like I've seen in a few other Dragon Gate matches, but they didn't. There were just enough to heighten the suspense and they proceeded logically. The limbwork looked believable and was sold well. I really believed that this was a heated rivalry between two men with a lot of history instead of just a performance being put on. I've seen Shingo Takagi before; I've enjoyed his work a lot, and this was no exception. He worked heel here fantastically. YAMATO blew me away. This guy. Holy shit. How have I missed him until now? Fantastic worker, very versatile, tons of charisma, surprisingly solid ring psychology, unique look. He's awesome. Overall, really, really great match. I had a blast. I'm excited to check out more from these two."