Dragon Gate ran the first half of CHAMPION GATE 2023 today, a doubleheader that will feature all the promotion’s championships contested for over two events.
Today’s event was held at Osaka Prefectural Gym 2 in Osaka and can be watched on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK.
The announced paid attendance was 455. Osaka seems to still be quite strict about reduced capacity despite the Japanese government easing most if not all its pandemic restrictions. So this number likely isn’t nearly as bad as it sounds for the venue.
Match 1: Shun Skywalker, KAI & H-Y-O vs. Strong Machine J, Kzy & BIGBOSS Shimizu went to a 15 minute time limit draw.
Match 2: YAMATO beat Ichikawa by submission in 28 seconds. Which led to…
Match 2 again: YAMATO beat Ichikawa by KO.
Match 3: Masaaki Mochizuki (who seemingly has gone light blonde and looks much different than what Pro Wrestling NOAH fans are used to) & Don Fujii beat Yoshiki Kato & Kito Nagano. Fujii beat Kato with Gedo Clutch.
Match 4: Dragon Kid, Yuki Yoshioka, Dragon Dia & Madoka Kikuta beat Genki Horiguchi, Naruki Doi, Eita & Takashi Yoshida. Yoshioka pinned Horiguchi after a frog splash.
Match 5: Jason Lee beat Open The Brave Gate Champion Minorita to win the title. Lee becomes the 47th Open The Brave Gate Champion.
Main Event: Open The Triangle Gate Champions Kota Minoura, Ben-K & BxB Hulk beat Susumu Mochizuki, Yasushi Kanda & Mochizuki Jr. to retain the titles. Ben-K pinned Mozhicuki Jr. V1 for the champs.
The second half of the event is tomorrow. Live streaming on DRAGONGATE NETWORK will begin TONIGHT at 9:45 PM ET/12:45 AM ET.
