Kzy Finally Wins Open The Dream Gate Title At Dragongate Kobe World 2026
It was finally “Kzy Time” inside Kobe World Hall in Kobe, Japan, as the 40-year-old defeated his demons and Madoka Kikuta to capture the Open the Dream Gate Championship for the first time at Dragongate’s Kobe Pro Wrestling Festival event on July 20. The former leader of Natural Vibes was forced to weather Kikuta’s offence for over 27 minutes before taking control and finishing off the leader of Gajadokuro. Kikuta’s reign at the top came to an end after 337 days, which included five successful defences and constant interference from his Gajadokuro teammates. Kzy closed the show as Dragongate’s first babyface world champion since YAMATO in 2024 and 2025, celebrating alongside his Natural Vibes allies.
Preceding the cathartic main event, fans in Kobe experienced both the most exciting and the more frustrating aspects of Dragongate’s 2026 booking. The semi-main event saw Ryoya Tanaka continue his legacy-defining run as Open the Brave Gate Champion, defeating his budding ally Homare to record his 12th successful defence, setting the record for the most defences in the title’s history. Before that, Gajadokuro’s ISHIN and Yoshiki Kato used their familiarity as long-time tag partners to defeat the upstart duo of Kota Minoura and Yuki Yoshioka, now collectively known as “XenisS”, to retain the Open the Twin Gate titles and score their first successful defence as champions.
YAMATO began his 20th anniversary celebrations by teaming with his PARADOX brothers in BxB Hulk, Dragon Kid, Kagetora, Naruki Doi, and Susumu Yokosuka to defeat a team consisting largely of former Toryumon wrestlers in Don Fujii, Genki Horiguchi, Kenichiro Arai, Masaaki Mochizuki, Ultimo Dragon, and Yasushi Kanda in a match to feature a bunch of the older wrestlers on the roster. YAMATO would later congratulate Kzy on his Open the Dream Gate Title win and challenge him to a match for said belt.
El Cielo, Gianni Valletta, and Shun Skywalker reunited under the Psypatra banner to win a random three-way trios match, which is currently set to be Skywalker’s final Kobe World appearance of his illustrious Dragongate career ahead of his planned departure later this summer. The Love and Peace trio of Hyo, JACKY KAMEI, and Riiita defeated the Natural Vibes team of GuC, Strong Machine J, and U-T to become the 100th Open the Triangle Gate Champions in history, further establishing themselves as Dragongate’s current premier faction.
The undercard saw Ho Ho Lun, Punch Tominaga, and Dragongate debutant Tristan Moody defeat Mondai Ryu, Shachihoko BOY, and Takashi; Kazuma Kimura and Mochizuki Jr. overcome @KEY and Ryu Fuda; and finally, legendary Pancrase co-founder Masakatsu Funaki, often regarded as a pioneer of modern MMA, obliterate Dragon Gate comedy grappler Jiro Shimbashi.
If you’d like to watch Dragongate’s biggest show of the year, head over to the Dragon Gate Network. For more coverage of everything Dragon System, keep it locked on to WrestlePurists!
