HSKqRQTbUAEMwLj
|

Dragon Kid Upsets Ryoya Tanaka to Win Open the Brave Gate Title | Puro Watch Guide

ByAndrew J.T. Gelinas
HSKqRQTbUAEMwLj

Dragongate Japan Pro-Wrestling

Dragongate held their impeccably named Tokyo Infinity Hectopascal event from Ota Ward (EBARA WAVE Arena Ota) on September 12. The show is the spiritual successor to the Dangerous Gate series of shows DG held for most years from 2012 to 2025.

The main event contest saw Kzy take out YAMATO to earn his first career defense of the Open the Dream Gate Championship after 28:35. The two wrestlers from DG’s famed class of 2006 went into this match with a lot to prove. Of course, Kzy entered trying to prove that his claim as Dream Gate champ wasn’t a fluke, while YAMATO was attempting to show the world that Kzy was a fraudulent champion.

After he successfully defeated his career rival, Kzy was approached by Gajadokuro’s Yoshiki Kato, who will challenge for the belt for the first time in his career on October 2 at The Gate of Victory 2026. Still no movement on a potential Strong Machine J heel turn.

Before the main event, Dragon Kid shocked just about everyone from the fans in Ota Ward to everyone watching from at home when he beat Ryoya Tanaka to take the Open the Brave Gate title. I’ll be straight up honest when I say that, while I love Dragon Kid with all my heart, the idea that he would be the man to end Tanaka’s record breaking reign is simply baffling. Instead of giving the rub to a younger wrestler like GuC, Ryo Saito instead chose to go with the 50-year-old veteran.

Still, though, if you forget about the result and the potential ramifications of such booking malpractice, this was an excellently wrestled match. Kid is still a physical marvel. There are so few guys still wrestling at his age that can do what he does on a nightly basis, and Tanaka, while still a little rough around the edges, has been DG’s MVP all year.

Kid is now a five-time Open the Brave Gate champion, which is one behind Masato Yoshino, who held it six times. At 736 days as of September 14, he is only 76 days away from tying Yoshino for most cumulative days with the belt.

Elsewhere on the card, ISHIN and Yoshiki Kato fended off El Cielo and Luis Mante to keep their Open the Twin Gate belts, while Hyo, JACKY KAMEI, and Riiita successfully defended their Open the Triangle Gate titles against Genki Horiguchi, KAGETORA, and Yasushi Kanda.

Elsewhere on the card, Uhaa Nation made his long awaited return to DG after 11 years to team up with XenisS’ Kota Minoura and Yuki Yoshioka in a win over Gajadokuro’s Jason Lee, KAI, and Madoka Kikuta, Minoru Suzuki murdered Jiro Shinbashi, PARADOX, with Don Fujii, defeated Natural Vibes, with Ultimo Dragon, and XENOSTAL NOVA’s Homare and Kazuma Kimura defeated Masaaki Mochizuki and Mochizuki Jr.

All Japan Pro Wrestling

AJPW contributed to their Royal Road tournament with two shows this past week. The first event emanated from the Kurobe City General Gymnasium on September 12, featuring three tournament matches. The first ended with Daisuke Sekimoto defeating Shotaro Ashino after 13:18 in a very good match. Then, HAVOC’s Xyon beat his teammate and friend Oddyssey in 11:18. Finally, Ryuki Honda took out Kuma Arashi in the main event at 21:57.

The next day, AJPW held the last two first round Royal Road matches from the Kissei Bunka Hall. Both Saito brothers were in action, and, unfortunately, both would fall to defeat. Rei Saito would lose to Yuma Anzai after 11:23, and former Triple Crown Champion Jun Saito lost to Yuma Aoyagi after 20:20.

The Royal Road’s second round will commence on September 16 from Shinkiba 1st RING with two quarterfinal matches. Timothy Thatcher will attempt to reach the semis in his first Royal Road when he takes on Yuma Anzai, and Daisuke Sekimoto will challenge Yuma Aoyagi.

AJPW will conclude the quarterfinals on September 17 also from Shinkiba 1st RING with one match, that being Kento Miyahara vs. Ryuki Honda. There was supposed to be a fourth quarterfinal match, however Go Shiozaki was forced to drop out of the tournament after he received a hip injury. That means that unless something changes, Xyon will earn a bye into the semi final. We will of course have updates on this tournament as it continues.

Pro Wrestling NOAH

Speaking of tournaments, NOAH began their N-1 Victory on September 12th from Korakuen Hall. All 16 men wrestled their first tournament matches on this night, good for eight league contests during the show. I’m delighted to say that just about every match from this show was worth a watch.

In A Block, Yoshiki Inamura defeated GHC Tag Team champion Yuki Iino in 10:42, Shane Haste took out Kazuyuki Fujita after 10:48, former WWE talent and Singaporean superstar CHEN upset Takashi Sugiura in 10:30, and finally Kaito Kiyomiya began his long road back to the top of NOAH by defeating Alpha Wolf in 12:16 in the semi main event.

Looking at B Block, Masa Kitamiya defeated Tetsuya Endo in 6:48 in the show’s lone skippable match, GHC Tag Team champ Manabu Soya took out KENTA after 11:21, Titus Alexander shockingly beat Kenoh in 14:49 in what was the match of the night for me, and OZAWA defeated the returning Kouga after 19:36 in a great main event.

By the time you all read this, NOAH will have already held the second night of their N-1 Victory. This show will feature four matches, all from A Block:

  • CHEN vs. Kazuyuki Fujita
  • Takashi Sugiura vs. Yuki Iino
  • Alpha Wolf vs. Yoshiki Inamura
  • Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Shane Haste

NOAH N-1 Victory Standings (After Night 1)

BLOCK A:

  • Chen – 2 (1-0)
  • Kaito Kiyomiya – 2 (1-0)
  • Shane Haste – 2 (1-0)
  • Yoshiki Inamura – 2 (1-0)
  • Alpha Wolf – 0 (0-1)
  • Kazuyuki Fujita – 0 (0-1)
  • Takashi Sugiura – 0 (0-1)
  • Yuki Iino – 0 (0-1)

BLOCK B:

  • Manabu Soya – 2 (1-0)
  • Masa Kitamiya – 2 (1-0)
  • OZAWA – 2 (1-0)
  • Titus Alexander – 2 (1-0)
  • Kenoh – 0 (0-1)
  • KENTA – 0 (0-1)
  • Kouga – 0 (0-1)
  • Tetsuya Endo – 0 (0-1)

DDT Pro Wrestling

Yuki Ueno celebrated 10 years in the business with a 10-year anniversary show on September 13 from, you guessed it, Korakuen Hall. The show’s undercard did have some noteworthy matches, including a strong Naomi Yoshimura vs. Yuki Ishida singles match, but everything from the three-way featuring Shinya Aoki, Akito, and HARASHIMA to the main event was great.

Probably the most notable moment of the show happened when Konosuke Takeshita came out after Ueno’s main event victory over his long time friend Shunma Katsumata and challenged him to a singles match down the road, if and when DDT holds an event at the Tokyo Dome.

Takeshita and Ueno have had a long and storied past. Both men were in the well regarded ALL OUT stable early in their careers, and, once that group ended, they were among the founding members of 37KAMIINA. As opponents, Takeshita and Ueno have had eight singles matches since 2017. Takeshita currently holds 7-0-1 record over Ueno, with his only non-win being a 10-minute draw back in 2023.

As for Ueno, it’s actually amazing to think that he’s only wrestled for a decade at this point. Over that time, Ueno has won KO-D Openweight Championship three-times, the DDT Universal Championship four-times, and has won one D-Ou Grand Prix, which is essentially DDT’s answer to the G1. He’s also main evented the last three Wrestle Peter Pan events, and has all but staked his claim as the ace of DDT now that Takeshita is no longer a full-time DDT wrestler.

Osaka Pro Wrestling

Osaka Pro Wrestling continued their Tennōzan tournament with one show on September 13 inside the Azalea Taisho in Osaka. This second show on the tour featured another four tournament clashes.

In the first tournament match of the evening, freelancer KUUKAI defeated Ultimate Spider Jr. after 11:31. Eagle-eyed Puro fans will remember KUUKAI as the guy who teamed up with El Desperado during last year’s NJPW Super Junior Tag League.

The second Tennōzan match saw the reigning Osaka Light Heavyweight champ SUZAKU taking out freelance favorite Kohei Kinoshita after 9:44.

After a couple more non-tournament matches, the event finished with two more singles clashes. First, Rogue Nation’s TORU defeated his former compatriot Tiida in 18:08. And then in the main event, the reigning Osaka Pro champion, and last year’s Tennōzan winner, Ryuya Matsufusa, ended Takoyakida’s tournament hopes after 23:44.

The second round of the Tennōzan will commence on September 22. Here are the matches:

  • Aran Sano vs. SUZAKU
  • TORU vs. Van Vert Jack
  • Kazuaki Mihara vs. Ryuya Matsufusa
  • KUUKAI vs. Shu Asakawa

OTHER NEWS AND NOTES

TAKAYAMANIA EMPIRE V – Dye It ROSSO (The Color of Passion)! took place on Monday, September 7 at Korakuen Hall. This show is an annual tribute event for one of the greatest pro wrestlers of all time, Yoshihiro Takayama, who infamously became paralyzed from the waist down in 2017.

The event featured six matches that covered a wide breath of prevalent Japanese wrestling tropes. The main event clash featured a Suzuki-gun reunion as El Desperado teamed up Minoru Suzuki, who was a longtime tag team partner of Takayama back in the day and remains a great friend, in a winning effort over DDT’s icon HARASHIMA and NOAH’s icon Naomichi Marufuji. The match was excellent and well worth the watch. It even featured Kenta Kobashi chopping Minoru Suzuki once again.

The full card featured the following:

  • Tatsuya Matsumoto (NJPW) def. Ryuma Sekimo (BJW)
  • Chihiro Hashimoto (Sendai Girls) & Ryo Mizunami (Sendai Girls) vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto (Freelancer) & Miyu Yamashita (TJPW) ended in a 15-minute draw
  • Danshoku Dino (DDT) vs. Hideki Suzuki (AJPW) ended in a no contest
  • MAO (DDT), Viento Levante (DDT), and Yukio Naya (DDT) def. Daichi Satoh (DDT), Takeshi Masada (DDT), & Yuya Koroku (DDT)
  • Katsuyori Shibata (AEW) & KENTA (NOAH) def. Caol Uno (Freelancer/Part-Timer) & Katsumi Inahata (NOAH)
  • El Desperado (NJPW) & Minoru Suzuki (Freelancer) def. HARASHIMA (DDT) & Naomichi Marufuji (NOAH)

Naruki Doi held his 26th Anniversary event at Shinjuku FACE on September 11. The show featured six matches, just as the Takayama show had, that is if you count the comedy matches as one full contest.

The main event of the evening saw the Gajadokuro trio of ISHIN, Jason Lee, Madoka Kikuta, and Yoshiki Kato defeat Naruki Doi, All Japan’s Jun and Rei Saito, and Dragongate General Manager, Ryo Saito. Doi regularly works with the Saito brothers in AJPW, and adding in Ryo Saito was a fun surprise.

The rest of this light show featured:

  • Homare (DG), Kazuma Kimura (DG), & Ryoya Tanaka (DG) def. Punch Tominaga (DG), Seigo Tachibana (Up Town), & Yuko Miyamoto (Triple 6)
  • Kuroshio TOKYO Japan (Up Town) def. Jiro Shinbashi (DG)
  • JACKY KAMEI (DG), Kazuma Sumi (DDT), & Riiita (DG) def. KAGETORA (DG), Luis Mante (DG), & Shuji Kondo (Freelancer)
  • Fuminori Abe (Freelancer) def. Mochizuki Jr. (DG)
  • Kota Minoura (DG) & Yuki Yoshioka (DG) def. Hyo (DG) & Hyo Ogawa (Up Town) and Kuma Arashi (Freelancer) & Seiki Yoshioka (Freelancer)
  • ISHIN (DG), Jason Lee (DG), Madoka Kikuta (DG), & Yoshiki Kato (DG) def. Jun Saito (AJPW), Naruki Doi (Freelancer), Rei Saito (AJPW), Ryo Saito (DG)

Naruki Doi made his pro wrestling debut on May 3, 2000 in a singles loss against Araken (now Kenichiro Arai) on the famed Arena Naucalpan in Juarez, Mexico. He’s worked all around the world, however he is most famous for his work in Dragongate.

Kazumi Kikuta and Toru Sugiura successfully defended their Big Japan Tag Team Titles against Masaya Takahashi and Toshiyuki Sakura in a “100 Flourescent Lighttubes Human BBQ Death Match” on September 8. It was their fifth defense of the belts.

Sangre Azteca Jr. also successfully defended his MPW Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Championship on September 12 at a Michinoku Pro show in Yahaba. He defeated Ringo Yamaya in 20:36 to notch his second successful defense.

FREEDOMS celebrated their 17th anniversary with a six match show on September 13. Longtime Japanese darling GENTARO defeated Shuichiro Katsumura and Violento Jack took out Enfermero Jr. in two first half highlights, but the second half belonged to tag team wrestling. FREEDOMS’ ace Jun Kasai and FREEDOMS’ creator Takashi Sasaki defended their Top of PUZZLE tag belts against Gaia Hox and Kaixa Zheng in the semi main event while Masashi Takeda and Yasuku Ito defeated Takayuki Ueki and Takobutsu in a Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match in the main event.

While his team with Nobu Kaseda lost a challenge at the Niigata Tag Team Championships at NPW’s show on September 12, Koji Doi announced that he has joined the regional indie’s roster. Doi only just recently joined the ZERO1 roster, but it appears he will hold two full-time talent contracts moving forward.

For coverage from across the Japanese professional wrestling scene, WrestlePurists will keep you updated.