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[SPEAKER_02]: Look at that one so high!
[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back to Open The Voice Gate for July 28th, 2026.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are members of the Voices of Wrestling Podcasts now where he can find us on the Voices of Wrestling Podcasts Network Beat or on our own dedicated Open The Voice Gate beat wherever you get your podcasts.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you can follow us on social media at Open Voice Gate.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you'd like to donate to the show, click the link in the show notes, I'll take you to our redcircle.com, landing site, you click the red box to the sponsor of this podcast, and you can set up a one-time reoccurring donation.
[SPEAKER_01]: no obligation whatsoever, but we would like to think our previous donors, and one of your hosts is your old pal, my experience joined alongside your other host case, low in case.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm very proud to report that this evening, as we were sitting down and recording, it is a temperate 75 degrees in my office in Paris until last week.
[SPEAKER_01]: It got to 82 by the time we were done with the Kobe world review last
[SPEAKER_00]: That's quite warm.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is a that is a very uncomfortable setting.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do empathize with you greatly.
[SPEAKER_01]: I am glad to hear that it is slightly cooler in your neck of words only a hundred and two today, only a hundred and two, you know, I mean, but it's a lot more of a bearable 100 or two that even makes every any remote sense to you whatsoever.
[SPEAKER_00]: It does to me, because I like it that temperature, but I can understand, I can understand why for most people that doesn't make any sense.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mike, I've got two topics I want to get to before we get into the Drain Gauge stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to talk pretty extensively about this Kobe Sable Hall show, the first show post Kobe World of 2026.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to do a big preview of Ray Day Paray House 2026, which kicks off next Tuesday and Quark and Hall.
[SPEAKER_00]: As of right now, the plan is to record a day later than normal, so to watch that Quark and Hall show a week from Tuesday, which is today.
[SPEAKER_00]: record the day after on Wednesday and then you guys will be able to consume it on that Thursday.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is the plan at least for now.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Mike, I've got I've got two things in mind that as I was going about the wrestling world this past week, I thought, I wonder if Mike Spears has an opinion on these things.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have an American wrestling topic and a Japanese wrestling topic, which one would you like to start with?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I feel like right now, somehow I am mostly up to date in the G1 climax, which is the first time I feel like in my late 30s and or 40s, this has ever happened to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's go in our national first.
[SPEAKER_00]: Go ahead.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, let's do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's funny you mentioned the G1 climax because in the midst of the G1, I decided that now was the time to catch up on ultra pan pro wrestling.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why I chose this and why I chose this incredibly inconvenient time to do so?
[SPEAKER_00]: I do not know.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have not been caught up in real time with the G1 since maybe 2016.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just not something that ever happens for me and
[SPEAKER_00]: I will make my way through stuff that I care about, eventually, I hear there some good Zac Saber Jr stuff that I'd like to check out.
[SPEAKER_00]: What are your impressions of that?
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: What are your impressions of the G1 so far?
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that, like, for one, it is a bit of a breezier year than last few years.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I mean, part of that is because, you know, there's not as much evil, like, evil in the house of torture, even in this state does not feel as, like, ear, just all around you, just, like, just overwhelming.
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, that there was, to Kasha versus Bolton was pretty hot.
[SPEAKER_01]: that was a really good match.
[SPEAKER_01]: I really enjoyed that one, but like it's an interesting tournament so far because it feels like that they're re-booking it on the fly after Umino got that concussion.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I like watching tournaments where I feel like that they're going to their other option and seeing what happened.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought our friend Alan Forrell offered a really interesting perspective that I agreed with on the Umino injury in the poor way that New Japan has handled
[SPEAKER_00]: Umenos should have been forced to wrestle with a head injury.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is not the point that he was making, but he broke this down on the same pro-Sparadise episode that he did the Kobe World Review on where you know, New Japan missed an opportunity to do something spontaneous and do something, I don't know if fun is the right word, but have a little bit of fan service and replacing Umenos because it happened so early in the tournament and instead they said, here's some bad news deal with it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I do find that to be a very odd approach for this current stage in New Japan, but from what I am hearing and I have not listened to any of Joe Lance's daily audio, I have not read any reviews.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm very, very out of touch with the G1 right now, but I hear his accent every June you're awesome.
[SPEAKER_00]: Has Utah ice done anything of note?
[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like you know, Ice has been very interesting because of the way that he is worked the tournament that he has treated everything like it's a knockout or submission match.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's kind of fun.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's going to put an Oscar.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been a big Oscar fan because I like the fact that he actually works to a size and that's something that like,
[SPEAKER_01]: It's great the fact that we are having more acrobatic wrestlers and people have like enough body control that like a lot of people can hit a moon so a lot of people can do dives now but the fact that Oscar is just so dedicated you just wrestling six seven powerhouse it's quite kind of refreshing.
[SPEAKER_01]: So Yoda, Yoda Suji is someone that like I was very high on a couple of years ago and the more that like I like the the more that there is of him and the more matches that I kind of see of him and even though like he was so clearly ahead of the others in his class like I find myself like wanting to sell more a Suvi sock as time goes by.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm with you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm out on Suji as a guy that I really care about.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you can have great matches, but I was expecting a much different career out of Suji a much different, more consistent higher ceiling career from him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think he's just proven to us that he's not that kind of guy, which is massively disappointing.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there was a few years ago where he was sort of the guy that I really latched onto a New Japan and over time, I have just slowly weed myself off of.
[SPEAKER_00]: being invested in him as a wrestler, which is a disappointment.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I will eventually, I will eventually get there.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will eventually watch, at least the big Zach stuff, the big Kalimnom stuff that people are pimping out, and some of the to-casual stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because again, I've heard that to-casual, like matches, great from a few different people now.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I will, it rules.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is like, I think it is better than anything that happened at Redemption on Sunday.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, that's high praise.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love Bandito vs. Fletcher, but that would be the only thing that I would imagine would be in contention for that.
[SPEAKER_01]: which is entirely fair like that was heading shoulders and like when you get to US I have a question for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay great I have a topic for you so what is your thoughts of all Japan right now as can to me a hara is staring down the barrel of Yuma on-site coming with what's so funny is that I you have no idea what the US wrestling topic is and you are you're going to be stunned when I bring this up to you as for all Japan for wrestling.
[SPEAKER_00]: Look, I went through, and I binge a bunch of carnival matches, and then I loved what I saw, and so I kept going.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now I'm pretty much caught up.
[SPEAKER_00]: I haven't seen the Kobe Somal Hall show with the Neruki Doi Dan tomorrow match, and the Kintomiahara Renayabe match, that people seem to love both of those.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I've seen everything through the July Corcorcan that had interested me up to this point.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the best full-time
[SPEAKER_00]: It's better, they run more shows at Osaka Pro, so I got to give the edge to Altspan, even if I enjoy Osaka Pro just on a personal level a little bit more.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yuma Onsai.
[SPEAKER_00]: might be my favorite non-dragon gate japan.
[SPEAKER_00]: Actually, I know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Uma Anzai is my favorite non-dragon gate japan.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a wrestler.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's starting to become Uma Anzai Bay wide margin.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think this guy's awesome.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the work that he's done this year has been incredible.
[SPEAKER_00]: The go-shiozaki match from April 12th will be a top 10 match for me this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought to me a horror match a week later was absolutely incredible.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now he's in this tag team.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mike, there is this match from the July 19th, Corricot Hall.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's at Suki Aoyagi and Rising Hayato versus Uma Anzai in Shota, Khufuji.
[SPEAKER_00]: Have you seen this Khufuji guy?
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I haven't seen Kofuji before.
[SPEAKER_00]: So debuted in 2024.
[SPEAKER_00]: First full-time year was last year.
[SPEAKER_00]: Russell about a hundred matches this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's on pace to have about the same number of matches this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: This guy's great.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what his ceiling is.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't really know the booking patterns of this all-japan regime well enough to.
[SPEAKER_00]: have any sort of insight into what is next month and six months and a year might look like it's just not a promotion that I have that much of a grasp on and really have never had that for modern day all Japan, but it's a promotion that.
[SPEAKER_00]: When they click, they are really fun to watch and they're really fun to binge.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this Kofuji guy just has all of the fundamentals that I want out of a Japanese wrestler.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's very fun in this July 19th tag because
[SPEAKER_00]: Anzai is Anzai, and for an all-Asia tag match, Ayo Yagi and Hayato both walk into the ring with a certain level of swagger.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, those are belts that they've been around for a long time.
[SPEAKER_00]: They feel very comfortable in that spot.
[SPEAKER_00]: They feel like they have a certain level of
[SPEAKER_00]: credibility over some guys on the roster when it comes to all of your tag matches.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so Kofuji is very clearly the fourth of four guys in that tag match in terms of where they're slotted on the roster.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he works like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: There are very obvious power dynamics at play.
[SPEAKER_00]: with Aoyagi and Hayata really roughing this guy up and then on side being the big heavyweight star of the match is just a really, really fun dynamic.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a really fun match.
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't believe people when they said that Hadaki Suzuki and
[SPEAKER_00]: can go machima.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're having great matches in 2026, but sure a shit they are.
[SPEAKER_00]: I watched matches from both of those guys over this past week that I was blown away by.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is just a really, really good time and all Japan right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you're not caught up, I would get caught up before that odds I meet a horror match coming up in a few weeks.
[SPEAKER_01]: Onside, just from the outside, feels like someone that, at least recently, Nathan consider like the fact that he's still what four years into his career, at the point that in a lot of ways,
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think it's counted on enough how much is a bachelor at doing the bachelor and being the finalist on the show and having that happen at like the same time as another like career maybe not another career but like this feels like the next big like evolution for him happening at the same time and didn't know that Kofuji was originally in Osaka style wrestling guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can see it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that that makes a little bit more sense now.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're you'll like him.
[SPEAKER_00]: You should watch that tag.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's a style of wrestling that you could really get into.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no, I'll be sure to kind of check that out.
[SPEAKER_01]: So what's your US topic that I have absolutely no idea that's coming for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, you know, I know you're a man that enjoys the written word, uh, you know, you are somebody that enjoys curling up with a good book.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just curious, uh, what your level of excitement is for the new David Schumacher book, why Hulk Hogan matters, which was released today.
[SPEAKER_00]: Step into the ring is David Schumacher wrestles with the legacy of the iconic Hulk Hogan.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why Hulk Hogan matters traces the explosive heat and heel turns of how Hulk Hogan came to be a true cultural phenomenon, whether you're a lifelong Hulk maniac or fascinated by the Hulk's truly unique, larger than life celebrity.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why Hulk Hogan matters is the ultimate homage to the legend of the ring.
[SPEAKER_00]: What does that do for you, Mike?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I had to check something before I continue as, you know, sometimes, and I'm not trying to pull a Harris Wittles here.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, sometimes we're like someone just out of the blue, like back in the day would follow you on social media and you're like, huh, that's interesting.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I had to go back and try to see if they able to make or so follow me on Twitter.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just because I was like one of the most bizarre ones that happened, given what I would tweet about, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, that's weird.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I don't think that
[SPEAKER_01]: That's just Craven.
[SPEAKER_01]: That book's just fucking Craven.
[SPEAKER_01]: Did you like, are you bringing this up because you got like the press hits and your shoot worth mail?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, oh god, no, no, I don't, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just saw it today because I still follow him and I, you know, I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, the mass man dead spin was interesting wrestling writing outside of the I WC zeitgeist, you know, and had its time in place, but I don't feel like he's done anything valuable ever since then.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I remember, you know, the one time that I really engaged with him was when
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is, you know, ancient history now, but it was before the first double or nothing, when Pock was supposed to wrestle Hangman, and then he got pulled off of the show and shoemaker went on.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, was it because it was a dream game champion, or because there was a visa issue.
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, he, I think the visa issue was to cover for the fact that he wasn't going to drop
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, I now is again, it was so long ago that I can't remember what the actual truth it was, but I remember Shoemaker being incredibly critical of that and I believe he called it the open the Wrestle Gate Championship instead of the open the Dream Gate Championship.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just thought he kind of exposed himself as being a bit of a doofus in that episode.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm so thoroughly unimpressed with given the platform that he has access to what he does with his work.
[SPEAKER_00]: And while I would be incredibly interested in, I don't know if scathing is the right word, but a non-childhood fascination look at the life of Hulk Hogan.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just can't imagine this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I just can't imagine this being a worthwhile read, but I saw that come across by timeline and I just, I thought that was the most ridiculous thing that I had ever
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: I am right now reading one of the most ridiculous books that's ever written.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's called the Power Broker.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is done by Robert Caro, who is this incredible historian who does it and is saying the amount of research.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the Power Broker is about the guy who basically built all the highways and the parks in New York City, Robert Moses.
[SPEAKER_01]: and essentially this book, it's 1400 pages.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm doing the audio book as I'm walking every morning to get through it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a 60-hour audio book and I'm only halfway through.
[SPEAKER_01]: But like the thoroughness and the willingness to kind of just plainly state like this person Robert Moses was a monster of his time and was able to accomplish more than
[SPEAKER_01]: most politicians accomplish without being in a single elective office and actually losing the only election that he participated in.
[SPEAKER_01]: But Carrow is very like fact-based in presence things as they happen he was able to get an insane amount of documentation.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a guy who is doing a five-volume series on linen-based Johnson and he's in his eighties and he's working on book five and there's no talk about George R. R. Martin about him like this guy's getting
[SPEAKER_01]: But like it absolutely is someone was able to do like this is the facts and look at wrestling from a not Hageo graphical mindset that often happens with Vince McMahon often happens with Hulk Ogan if there's actually a book that's able to do that.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that Josephine Riceman book on Vince McMahon was one of the few books in recent years that was able to kind of do that
[SPEAKER_01]: Then there's value there.
[SPEAKER_01]: But what Shoemaker's putting out has absolutely no value in it, feels like whenever Brian Alvarez put out like the 50 things you must do as a pro wrestling fan book.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know?
[SPEAKER_01]: They exist to be given as Christmas presents by family members who know your kind of interrestling but they don't know your real taste and they're probably where better off to get you something for a grill instead.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is such an excellent comp.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is so good.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, I have a question for you about redemption.
[SPEAKER_01]: That happened on Sunday.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have noticed the backlash against the show, and I think a lot of it is pretty well-wanted about the, about wedging in the show here, the amount of melodrama that kind of happened and just the fact that it was just not the best output of a W. I don't think it was their worst paper view by any stretch of imagination, but it had a rough hour and a half.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do we, I, I had something that occurred to me during the show and I wanted to just throw it at you and see if this sticks or if I'm just, you know, just being a crazy philosopher type.
[SPEAKER_01]: are a lot of people's reaction to how poor redemption is, do the fact that there's usually four or five guys that you can count on a, w paper fuse that they're going to get time and their matches are going to rock.
[SPEAKER_01]: And John Moxley will all spray Kyle Fletcher, Bandito, and the Young Books.
[SPEAKER_01]: and you booked them into two matches and one of the matches was just hanging up melodramas far as possible.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you lost like, hey, yeah, you lost a continental title match, you lost like another chance for a banded over to someone else and fledger versus someone also having two great matches.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is there something there that a lot of the reaction could be solved by the fact of the five work courses of this promotion kind of being
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the difference in quality of a show when Osprey has a typical Osprey output match compared to the one that he had on that show is so dramatic.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's, I think it's more so than a buck thing, more so than a moxley thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just think the swath of what we have come to expect from a well-aught spray paper rematch compared to what we got, despite who he was in the ring with, or I guess it, you know, it,
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a relevant who he was in the ring with bringing them into the ring and taking away their ability to have those matches too.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, there are, there are, there are Osprey matches on paper views that if there are four and a quarter stars, there are viewed it as a disappointment.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this was a three and a quarter star match.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's a pretty dramatic swing in terms of what we got from him.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought Bandito versus Fletcher was fantastic Bandito.
[SPEAKER_00]: bandito continues his track record is one of the best wrestlers one of the best big match wrestlers in the world flutter continues his streak as I think the best wrestler in the world that was excellent uh you know the the bucks for as great as they are they've gone through phases where I think they've had outright bad paper view matches so I don't think they make a ton of difference in this moxley has been incredible but I don't
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't personally rely on him to have an incredible paper view output in the same way that will does.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just think this comes down to
[SPEAKER_00]: We didn't get the usual grade-offs right match that we get which is like a match of the match the your container type match and then there were two really bad matches back to back and that's the difference and what this show has Received feedback wise compared to what we normally get because the main event was great bandit versus lecture was great.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought for a lot of match I thought the opening match was great.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just we had two really bad matches and not a match the your container from will last right.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's fair.
[SPEAKER_01]: I guess I was trying to go more interconnected and thinking that the Osprey performance removed three possible great performances out of the show because of being tied up with that instead of being spread throughout the car.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's an issue of just what what that type of match was.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was a little bit more on board with this Osprey story.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then a lot of people were, I thought they really missed a mark at the end of that show with the Osprey Moxley stuff and then I thought they kind of nailed the Osprey Omega stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, there's a version of Osprey and Mox versus the box that is the type of output that we normally get from Will Osprey and then we're back in business and I don't really think anybody
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I don't think it's at all time great paper for you, but I don't really think anything anybody would be talking extensively about it a few days after the fact, but they had the match that they felt was right for the storyline going on.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's entirely a fair way to look at it and maybe I was just trying to connect dots where there weren't dots to connect there with that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Unless you had something else you want to touch on.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it might be time for us to get into the Kobe Summer Festival show that happened this Sunday in Kobe Summer Hall.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's do it!
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, so this might be like their third or fourth version of this show.
[SPEAKER_01]: They've always run kind of a festival kind of show for a late July, early August, Samba Hall show.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I felt like that in the past, there might have been things that have been built up to it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think one year, the mehane show was tied into the summer festival.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's when they had great O'Con and Bushi coming in to Samba Hall for that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Overall, what were your kind of your takeaways for this both this as like this summer festival idea and then you, you know, overall this first show after the first tell by show since Kobe world the first time really that you have Open the Dreamgate champion KZ as well as a firm trio and to knock a gun at this point.
[SPEAKER_01]: What were your kind of your takeaways of this show?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think this show really hammered home something that we've been talking about for most of this year and it was really exemplified on this show, which is just how thin this roster is because of the booking.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't think this was an issue that this promotion was having at this specific time last year.
[SPEAKER_00]: I certainly don't think they were having this issue two years ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think this is a new issue at this promotion.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is really, really glaring when you watch stuff like this.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you just see how weak and futile these undercards are.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's kind of shocking to see.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, if you go back and look at the Kobe Sombo Hall show from July 27th last year,
[SPEAKER_00]: This was the first Kobe show after Kobe world.
[SPEAKER_00]: What I know, reofood versus coaches who can join your in a singles match in match number two, because time is a flat circle.
[SPEAKER_00]: And look, this is not an awesome show by any means, but you do get dietinaka, nioshioca versus Sahara, Yanniguchi and Mochizuki when they were starting to really,
[SPEAKER_00]: kick into gear with most of the dojo you got been due to flamita and monta versus kz strung machine j and u t went to mexico felt like they had momentum and then they closed the show with a royal sombo battle royale which i i do not love them ever closing the shows with that but that was at least a storyline between shune and what was the beginning of gosh i doco or so it was shune to kuta hamari ishin json kai manora and kato in that main event
[SPEAKER_00]: And it just feels like the roster was a little deeper than it is now.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you go back two years, you'd be looking at a show.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so Kobe World was at the end of July that year, then they went to Kobe, on July 28th.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is most hooking controversy on a huge junior or an eight band tag that was nothing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then heo and Monta versus Jason and Kai, a royal soma, which was again one by
[SPEAKER_00]: Calvator Institute, my versus Hulk in Santa Maria, and Dragon Kid in the Rooka doing Yamada versus Shimazoo, Strong Machine J and UT.
[SPEAKER_00]: I remember them leading much more into the theme of the Summer Festival show on this one than anything that they did last year or anything that they did this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's just another one of these tough co-based sample haul shows, and we run into this issue in Fukuoka, and in Osaka, and we're running this issue in Korka now, which is really crazy to think about.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's just nothing on these undercarts.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's not until you get to Horguchi and Kanda versus the bang bang clowns, which we'll talk plenty about.
[SPEAKER_00]: that there's anything of substance on this show.
[SPEAKER_00]: So the last three matches because of the notable debut because of the royal soma, which I thought was the best royal soma when ages, and then because of a main event that did actually matter, you know, I was into this, but unless you're invested like you and I are at the development of Tristan Moody and I have some thoughts on him.
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, mochi and food uh it was good but we've seen it before.
[SPEAKER_00]: Paradox versus problem dragon to caution all to dragon.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just don't care.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, there's that love and peace versus moody and new team match which served its purpose.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then just an absolutely dreadful C. L. O. versus Valeta versus Kai match.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we're an hour into this show by the time the clowns go on the screen and there is just nothing of substance whatsoever.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that is that is becoming increasingly an issue
[SPEAKER_00]: now that Komora's been elevated, you've taken the one undercard star and put it in an actual meaningful matches, which is what I want.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what they should be doing, but now with Komora and maybe match five or match six on most of these shows and not match one or two, you really start to feel it on the undercard.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just a very thin roster right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I think it's worth noting, so going through the match times through in our mission, Mochizuki and Futa seven minutes, paradox versus Ultimo Takashi and Mondei Ryu, six minutes, 25, love and peace versus UT and Moody, six, 22, CLO, Johnny and Kai, five minutes, eight seconds, and then the clown match was six minutes and 54 seconds.
[SPEAKER_01]: So nothing like even the idea that these undercard matches, you would expect, you know, most of them to be eight or nine minutes.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're not even getting, and then maybe having one max that's 10 to 12 months to go to Intermission, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not even happening at this point.
[SPEAKER_01]: This was probably the fastest quirk and haul show from start to finish that I remember post COVID.
[SPEAKER_01]: It just felt like that everything kind of zoom through.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was just looking through and scrubbing through the show.
[SPEAKER_01]: And before I knew it, I was like, damn, it's Intermission.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there's only 40 minutes left on this
[SPEAKER_01]: And let's talk about Heo and Junior versus UT and Moody, because I actually thought this was the one highlight out of that then undercard.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I thought a lot of that was Junior and Moody, and especially the work that those two kind of had together.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I thought that especially towards the close, this was as much as we've probably seen of Moody so far in this excursion for him.
[SPEAKER_01]: At least with someone like Junior who might be the most adaptable guy on the roster, he fit in very well, and I was kind of excited to see where it could go.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I was told by somebody last week that Moody's favorite wrestler was AJ Styles.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I watched him in this match and I went, oh yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moody is, and I say this in a complimentary way, but he is so very obviously influenced by AJ Styles, and I think that could work on this roster.
[SPEAKER_00]: The thing that's interesting with him is that he's like, he's like the size of Rita.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he's a small guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a small guy on a roster full of small guys.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that really works with UT and Mochizuki Jr. And I think it's an interesting wrinkle to have on these undercarts right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will be curious to see
[SPEAKER_00]: How long he's in Japan?
[SPEAKER_00]: I've certainly heard some things on maybe what he has in store for the rest of the year that that could lead to him.
[SPEAKER_00]: This might be a one and done tour.
[SPEAKER_00]: This could be a thing where he sticks around quite a while.
[SPEAKER_00]: It seems like based on the conversation I had last week that there's a lot up in the air with him.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he's really talented.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like that he's an unknown.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a guy that feels like if he garner's any sort of momentum, he's going to feel not like an indie guy that's doing a Draingate tour, but like somebody that is unique to Draingate, which I think is a really interesting wrinkle to have.
[SPEAKER_00]: And based on what I've seen, because I went back and watched the stuff on the network of his from before the World.
[SPEAKER_00]: Based on what I've seen, I see no reason that he can't hang.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know to what degree that is.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if we'll ever see him in any sort of pushed commodity.
[SPEAKER_00]: They were certainly more aggressive with Marcus Mathers right off the bat and we're quicker to feature him and put him in big stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: But they also had a finite amount of time with Mathers on that tour.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moody, there's a chance that he's around a little bit longer.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I also think he doesn't have the base that Mathers was working with.
[SPEAKER_00]: That being said, I like everything I've seen from him so far.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I think that just the Carolinas, like he was not at a level of deadlock when deadlock was kind of the bright star in the Carolinas and especially being from the South Carolina side of the wrestling scene, it is a little bit behind North Carolina.
[SPEAKER_01]: that you're able to kind of go through the your first few years I feel like completely off the beaten path or at least like off the path of like someone like me or you to notice them.
[SPEAKER_01]: And especially like if it wasn't for the fact that like I knew the indie of which I saw clips of him post about on on Twitter I would have had absolutely no friend of reference until him going
[SPEAKER_01]: It's clear to me that he can keep up with the pace and it's he's been there for a couple of weeks and he's adjusted to that and he's adjusted pretty well and I am really interested to see him kind of get more matches outside of your undercard fodder stuff like if he's going to be able to get a singles match against.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not even saying your motto because I wouldn't make sense right now for your motto what your motto is doing, but if by the end of his time here, if let's say he faces to Sumu once and does really well, I think that's a big one.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that, you know, with how open-ended it is for him, especially given the guys age, I think it's like 22, if that, it seems to be like the right kind of scenario for if Dragon Gate is going to try to find an American
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd like to see him against Eshen, I'd like to see him against Jason.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think those are the two matches that intrigued me the most right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: One of the things I noticed in particular in this match, he has an excellent drop down.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that is sort of, you know, as we talked about the decay of fundamentals in wrestling and Alan Forel and I did that big podcast on Eddie Guerrero last year and talked about how it's funny how people cite Eddie as an influence because the things that made Eddie great are our absence for most modern wrestling.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tristan Moody did a drop down very early on in the smash that looked like it was going to take the shins off of mochazuki juniors body in juniors just able to get over the top and it looked really good.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would like to see I would like to see an wrestling somebody just scored offensive take down with a drop down at some point here in the near future because that is the point of that move and Moody has one that looks really aggressive so maybe able to be him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Come work, come work, I do a lot of things.
[SPEAKER_00]: That guy is phenomenal.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm quite excited about that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk about the clowns though.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, because the rest of the undercard, like just to run through it, yeah, you had to mochizuki and food a match that was not as good as past matches, food is just a satellite orbiting the mochizuki's planet, nothing to say about paradox versus veterans, sell over, versus Kyversha Johnny was always at time, but the- I gotta say, and I just gotta be the thing that I harp on, because I get the feeling that is going to be around on this Rayday Paray House tour.
[SPEAKER_00]: there was nothing for Gianni Valetta in this promotion anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: He does not fit.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is not needed.
[SPEAKER_00]: They are going to ruin what was a really fun, really awesome run that I was right about the entire time.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was his biggest advocate.
[SPEAKER_00]: I sought before anybody else the value that he could bring to this promotion.
[SPEAKER_00]: Valetta story is over.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no need for him anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: He serves no purpose.
[SPEAKER_00]: If he's going to be doing bullshit like this, it's going to be a real problem.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because that match was five minutes in which you a triple count out in every second of it sucked.
[SPEAKER_01]: The only like part interesting thing of the match was in the post match afterwards where he gets CLO up into an electric chair position and runs him into a column and hits the ceiling like that was the only kind of interesting thing there that the one thing that I wonder about with him here and this might just be me again hoping for things that will just be better off like just kept in my mind here.
[SPEAKER_01]: is, is there any value for a KZ versus V2 defense for a KZ?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, there's no, no, I don't think so.
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know if there was any money, if there was really no money left in the count in your mind, whereas I was wondering if there was still just a couple little bits of change that KZ could get out of beating him.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think so because
[SPEAKER_00]: The story there was always with, you know, whatever was there between Valetta and Skywalker.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when Skywalker turned, they did that great Valetta baby face turn.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, they were able to get him a gosh, I do grow.
[SPEAKER_00]: title defense him and him and Kukuta but otherwise the story that I mean the story that's left with volada which I don't think is a particularly interesting story and I certainly don't trust Draingate in 2026 to be able to handle this is the Oki's and Yannagi Uchi's at Humare's
[SPEAKER_00]: of the world, all the young boys that he used to torment are now members of the roster and some of them are pushed quite heavily.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I guess if you wanted to do something there, that's fine.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Valetta's a baby face and those guys are all baby faces.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't really care about that either.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't see what purpose that serves.
[SPEAKER_00]: But no, we've seen Valetta have two dream gate matches.
[SPEAKER_00]: We had the Monte match that completely fell apart.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think it was a bad night for both those guys.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't, I don't think Gianni Villetti needs three open the dream gate challenges in his career.
[SPEAKER_00]: That, that feels excessive.
[SPEAKER_00]: That feels like cyber-quong territory where we're booking a guy in a dream gate match for the purpose of beating him, rather than this idea that he could feasibly win this title.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it felt a little bit more feasible with the cocoo to match.
[SPEAKER_00]: that it did the montay match, but still I, you know, I don't, I don't really have any interest in that.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just a bummer because they had the perfect end of that story.
[SPEAKER_00]: He never needed to come back and if they were insisting upon him having one more appearance, then they could have done whatever they were doing with the psychiatric thing at the last court.
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, you put them on the world and then he goes home.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want him in Paradox, I don't want him messing with any of these new units.
[SPEAKER_00]: All of the young boys that he torments are now baby faces and Valeta's a baby face, they're just a more stories form, and that's fine, but he's got to move on, he's got to leave the territory.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I, I just know that they're not going to at this point.
[SPEAKER_01]: He seems to be an ultimo guy, you know?
[SPEAKER_01]: And if he's going to be around here, I just would rather him be doing something interesting.
[SPEAKER_01]: Versus, just brawling and picking up rookies.
[SPEAKER_01]: Though, I will say your idea in saying, if he has to be around him versus Gucci, I think is a fascinating program to run right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, him versus Gucci, him versus Humari, but character-wise, it doesn't make sense for those guys to be linked up against them right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're on completely separate planes.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're on completely different trajectories.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I just don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know why you keep them around.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this isn't like a deal where...
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we could have said this about Deamante in 2020 when he was not quite the restor that he is now, where it's like, oh, well, he's just friends with the ultimate.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's why they keep him around.
[SPEAKER_00]: But he didn't at least serve the purpose of being the guy that worked best with all to a dragon.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not like Valetta has amazing chemistry with one guy on the roster.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, oh, well, you can at least put them there together.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, this isn't.
[SPEAKER_00]: This isn't even Bindito being a part of Team Mexico.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was always the weakest guy in those trio's matches last year.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is just a guy who they told a really cool story with.
[SPEAKER_00]: They had a miraculously great baby-faced turn with.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's still, I mean, God, that's like one of my favorite moments in Drain Gate history is the way that they turned them last year.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought that was so cool.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love that angle so much.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love the early stages of Cypatry before it completely fell apart.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm good.
[SPEAKER_00]: He won King of Gate.
[SPEAKER_00]: He lost a dream gate challenge.
[SPEAKER_00]: What else is there for it?
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no story there.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's fair.
[SPEAKER_01]: The clown.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we got to talk about the clown.
[SPEAKER_01]: So Koki Oshima and Daisuki Guchi are no longer known by their government names.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's lucky Oshima and Suji and Suji big circus doing a pun off of dye being big.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they are bang bang circus.
[SPEAKER_01]: are being banged by clowns.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sorry, and they had their debut match against Yazushi Kondang Kinky Horiguchi Konda wins the match for the veterans after a John Wu that hits both of them and doing a double pen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we got a whole lot of clown stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: So when this match was announced, I was really, really fearful of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I did not like the idea of this gimmick.
[SPEAKER_00]: I did not like the idea of them debuting against Condon Horiguchi.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was really afraid that this match was going to be mean and maybe that is a childish way of expressing my emotions, but I don't come to Dragon Gate to see that sort of thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Masato Tanako or Keno or Kenta.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I see those guys punk out a young wrestler, there's a perverse entertainment there.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like seeing that for as many shots as Mochizuki and Fuji and even Yamato and, you know, in a prior generation, Shimon Gamma for as many physical shots as they took at young boys over the course of their careers
[SPEAKER_00]: It always felt like it was in the spirit of a professional competition and it wasn't mean.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just had a bad feeling about this match going in that with the gimmick and with who they were debuting against and with the power trip that horror Gucci has been on this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was really fearful for this and I was not excited to watch it and it took me a few days to get to this show.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I had seen some early feedback on it and I I wasn't really
[SPEAKER_00]: encouraged by what I had read to give this match a watch.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will say Mike, not as mean as I thought this was going to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: Where do you sit on just the tenor of this match?
[SPEAKER_01]: If we're going from 1 to 12, 1, 2016, this was much more like in single digit.
[SPEAKER_00]: But you know, the thing with 121-16, which you know, the reference mic is making is the Shimo Dragon Kid Don Fuji Gamma Masakamoto Suzuki versus what is the class of 2016.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Ben Hio Katsuba Takashima.
[SPEAKER_00]: Soon skywalking, you, you, you Kioshioca.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's that great 10 man, which is turning 10 years old this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: And, which probably revisited that, and I should probably read an article about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, at least the rookies in that match fought back.
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's that big Ben Sheema sequence.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's when Shewn really came out of a shell for the first time.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's when you and I were making comparisons of 2016, Yo, to 1998, Mitch Dokupro Sheema.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, they had a chance to fend for themselves for a second.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was just afraid that Condon Horgucci were just going to stiff the life out of the, they weren't going to get any offense.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then they were going to depend.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was going to be a really deflating and mean spirit of debut.
[SPEAKER_00]: That didn't happen.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I also feel like 12, 11, 16 is.
[SPEAKER_00]: a different vibe, but it's no different than the old team veteran returns versus Millennials matches where they tried to kill UT in the ring, but it felt like a wrestling contest to not like some level of for lack of a veteran bullying.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was afraid that this was going to be a bullying match, but it wasn't that bad.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I think that
[SPEAKER_01]: this match in this gimmick has to be looked at through a certain lens of it became very clear to me as soon as the matches started and they were doing the balloon sword that why they are in this gimmick.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, do you know why they're in this gimmick?
[SPEAKER_00]: Ah, because if they weren't in this gimmick, they wouldn't have debuted period.
[SPEAKER_01]: and this gimmick is trying to force them to act big and develop a personality as a last it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I guess that's fair.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I don't mind it from that perspective.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think there's a million other things they could do that weren't this level of humiliation that is a cloud gimmick where you're using balloon animals as offense.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm already annoyed with this promotion for the stuff they on the morning right April, I have and I think there's a number of flaws like we talked about two weeks ago You know, this is, I mean, this is a comedy, horror, horror goofy promotion right now and adding two literal clowns to the mix does not help things.
[SPEAKER_01]: right and it I it's hard for me not to compare and contrast this with gero where like gero it's very clear that they know that this guy can work and can do things and he's able to when he doesn't isn't doing the pure salary man comedy acts of he's able to work and it
[SPEAKER_01]: feels like a part of the roster.
[SPEAKER_01]: And even though I've been screaming from the mountain tops, they need to get him into tags.
[SPEAKER_01]: We need to get him away from just doing singles matches here.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a level of care there that is not there with Bang Bang clowns.
[SPEAKER_01]: Bambang clowns really feels like well, as you said, if you're still going to be here, I guess you can be clowns and also if you're still going to be here and you're now taking a space on the show, we're going to make you act big and hopes that somehow you all develop a personality.
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess that's the bright spot from it.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a gimmick that does nothing for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, something I was thinking about earlier,
[SPEAKER_00]: when we were talking about the undercards on the shows and you and mentioned which was a great point about just how quick some of these undercards are.
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess if I was going to give them the benefit of the doubt, I would say that they're trying to channel 2002, 2003 Toryman with the undercards on the shows and having them go in and out and having the super quick moving show, what ultimately having a pretty short show.
[SPEAKER_00]: The difference is you would get maybe a five or six match Toryman show where your first four matches don't hit 10 minutes.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I feel like everything on those shows would matter to some degree and right now nothing matters and the thing is there's nothing they can do with these clowns that i'm ever going to care about there's no investment i'm ever going to have in these guys in this gimmick i hope that they can work out of it i would love to see them just be pro wrestlers but as long as their clowns this is another thing
[SPEAKER_00]: that is going to take up a spot on the show that isn't serious and that doesn't progress the story.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we're looking at a real possibility here, we're in the next few months, there could be a Kobe Sama Hall undercard.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is an ultimo dragon six ban, a zero comedy match, a clowns tag match, and a royal son belt.
[SPEAKER_00]: And those could be the first four matches on a six match Kobe Sama Hall show and then we go to intermission after that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that feels
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and it does not give a lot of hope that there's going to be changed for them to progress when it's going to be like this kind of stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, they are going to like steam roll into a mochi Fuji match.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're going to get the crappy out of the middle of the cool because how much fun it, it has been in the past to see mochi Fuji beat the crap out of rookies.
[SPEAKER_01]: At least in the past it was seeing kind of as like an accomplishment or like, okay, this is your gut check like you get through this and you might not be elevated up the show beer viewed kind of as a full roster member like imagine what that match is going to be like.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's, there's no gut check there.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is no, hey, you are full dragon gate wrestlers and a level of kind of accomplishment kind of getting through that.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is going to be them trying to attack a Dawn Fuji of a sword, probably do some knee bit, and then Masaki Matsuki kicking their heads off.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's nothing to be gained in like these scenarios, we're in the past, like
[SPEAKER_01]: you would at least think that eventually there would be a level of come-up, but what's the come-up that's going to serve?
[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, this is a far cry from Mochi Fuji beating up UT in 2013, or the Mochizuki Dojo guys and either incarnation of that unit.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is these are two guys that will never progress in this game from the spot they were in.
[SPEAKER_00]: This was simultaneously the best thing that'll ever happen to them.
[SPEAKER_00]: and also the place that they'll stay at for the rest of their careers as long as they're in this gimmick and that sucks and I don't I don't really want to see that I think this promotion has a serious comedy problem right now and this says that there's way too much comedy on this roster there's way too much comedy on these shows and I'm not ever going to pop for a balloon animal spot just not going to happen so this is a lose lose all the way around I guess it's nice and Jay put this up on his blue sky you know these kids wanted to be so badly that they accepted this gimmick
[SPEAKER_00]: The problem is that now we're stuck with this gimmick.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mike, have you been on the Gaioira web page?
[SPEAKER_00]: They already have roster spots for them.
[SPEAKER_00]: They already have their own unit section on the roster page with a logo, mine you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like this is, they're not going anywhere.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is going to be a thing until they burn it into the ground.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they run into the ground.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then from there, who knows what happens.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I, I.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was not the match that I feared it was going to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: I really fear that it was going to be upsetting and that it was going to leave a really bad taste in my mouth.
[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't good.
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't like it.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I didn't, I didn't like it in the way that I was afraid I was going to.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no.
[SPEAKER_01]: Did you know that Lucky Oshima is already 26 years old?
[SPEAKER_00]: I did not know that.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a bummer.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: I this is the kind of the thing that I think we have to really watch going forward is.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, at the start of the 2020s, think about all the kids they were pumping out of this Dojo and thinking about how good all of those kids were and you don't know the kids that left the Dojo and are knocking it dead in promotions like DDT.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and so when you've got your DDT guys, like, sue me that we're in the Dojo and then left and then you've got your cantoes and Fujiwara's and then
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, you've got your striers and these defects, you know, it's and you know, I mean even dragon diet coming in in 2018 is it's pretty recent.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's a huge challenge now for now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely, but, you know, from 2018 and a post split to 2023, let's say, I mean, Mike, they were debuting kids all the time.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was so much fun to cover because they all almost all of them hit the ground
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, some of the, I, I could list off all of these names that that they debuted since 2018.
[SPEAKER_01]: Go ahead.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're here right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, Coach of Menor and Dragon die in 2018, 2019 or Strom machine J, 2019 was also the first appearance of Dia Monte.
[SPEAKER_01]: Kentucky Bune, 2019, Jackie Kame, 2019, Medokukaku, 2020, Sora Fujikawa, 2020, La Estrea, 2020,
[SPEAKER_01]: and Kanon and Kazuma Sumi were around that time period.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's move to the actual future era.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ricky Hashi 2021, Easton 2021, Rita 2021, Takuma 2021, RehaFood 2021, RehaFood is coming up on a fifth year anniversary.
[SPEAKER_00]: Crazy.
[SPEAKER_01]: us, Shoya Sato 2021, Mochizuki Junior 2022, LCLO 2022, Kaito Nagano 2022, Yoshiki Kato 2022, Dikiyani Giyuchi 2022-ish, Roya Tanaka 23, Amari 24, Aki 24, Hohobi comes an official roster member in 25, Kamora Shimbashi, Kamora 25, Shimbashi 26, and now Bang Bang Clowns 26.
[SPEAKER_01]: As I listed those off, do you notice what comes down to almost like a snail crawl on that list?
[SPEAKER_01]: It really slows down after 2023.
[SPEAKER_01]: It really does.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, this is the biggest year they would have had since 2022 at this point.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's with Jira when the bank bank clowns.
[SPEAKER_01]: it's like objectively, if you were building up a company and you're trying to find the pieces towards the future and the idea of Kazuma Kamora, he's 24 years old, we already see where he is, he's already as you mentioned earlier, he was in the main event of the show and he is already paying off like this, I talked about momentum up and momentum down so much, Kazuma Kamora's
[SPEAKER_01]: you can't ever expect that these three guys can even scratch that at this point in these gimmicks.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it could be a situation where Shimbashi finally gets to level up and move along in certain things and is able to feel like a more ingratiate member of the roster member.
[SPEAKER_01]: But right now, the year 2026 is the most comedy-heavy year ever coming out of the Dragonism Doga.
[SPEAKER_00]: And inherently, you know, there's nothing wrong with no, a down-year or two in the dojo.
[SPEAKER_00]: It would be unrealistic to think that they're keeping the pace that they were in the early part of the 2020s.
[SPEAKER_00]: But now we've also had enough time since Tanaka's debut to notice the start of a pattern, and to notice the heavy hit, the heavy direction towards comedy with the most recent debuts.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just something to keep an eye on, because we've seen this threat-dramates history where there's a few lost generations.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a few years where that Dojo goes quiet, and they don't pump out a ton of roster members.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think this promotion is at its most exciting, where, yes, you have your established main adventures in the top of the card.
[SPEAKER_00]: But you also have those young guys running around trying to figure themselves out matches one two and three.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's a uniquely dragon gate thing for the most part where you get that card integration and you get guys that can be elevated quite quickly and can develop personalities quite quickly and are not in the new Japan of the NOAA system where things move at a glacial pace.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think part of the term dragon is hey, if if you debut and there's something there.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to use you and we're going to use you aggressively in certain moments.
[SPEAKER_00]: The problem is that was zero and with the clowns, we kind of know what's going on right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I loved how aggressively they use tomorrow when a first debuted, they scaled them back.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now what seems like they're pushing them again.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's fantastic, but I kind of need another Komora or another Komora or another Komora or another Tanaka to come through the dojo at some point here pretty soon or else I'm going to start to get worried.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no, and there are new young guys, and that's probably another reason why they felt like that they're like, okay, fine, you can be clowns now.
[SPEAKER_01]: So maybe there are some people that will be coming, you know, but it's just it's a foul of time period and it's kind of accentuated by the fact that you got three comedy gimmicks so far, they're viewing in 2026, but
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, after an our mission, this turned into a much better show with the Ray-Dapareha's preview Royal Samba, it was not a overly complicated battle royal.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was the five teams that were already announced and had were a native dragon gate teams facing off in this, but what you ended up having was a
[SPEAKER_01]: 10 guys that were able to kind of tell a kind of a good through line preview ending with uh... coat of manure unleashing the full clip of all of his finishing moves on cagotora to get the win and to uh... inter-ray day prayers for zenith at a peak after their debut lost at the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I said earlier, best Royal Samba and forever.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought Coach Benore in particular had a really good night.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I will table the rest of my Ray Day Paray hotstots for just a little bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but let's talk about the main event.
[SPEAKER_01]: The show opened up with KZ address in the crowd the first time as Dreamgate champion.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this was the first time he was announced as the open the Dreamgate champion.
[SPEAKER_01]: As it was a bit of Dreamgate versus Bravegate as KZ team with natural vibes, strong machine J and Fulmita.
[SPEAKER_01]: Versus a knock-a-gun of the open the Bravegate champion, Roya, it's Naka, Hamari, and Kazuma Kamura.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am really curious to see as we move along here in the near future.
[SPEAKER_00]: how they handle Tanaka's unit and what I mean by that is not necessarily the booking of one of the wins and losses, but how quickly they get a name, how quickly they get a logo, how quickly they get gear, how quickly they feel like a unit because you and I both publicly and privately based on conversations we've had have heard rumblings that I guess for a lack of better term, this promotion has become very lazy and I mentioned during the
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought it was a really big mistake to not have to knock a day viewing this unit.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even if it's just him and Kamor at that point, because that's before Hamari joined.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought it was a really big mistake to not have them day to you this unit.
[SPEAKER_00]: at Kobe world.
[SPEAKER_00]: Think about how much buzz and how much conversation, and part of us because of how silly the name is, but think about the buzz and the conversation around zenith just from the night before Kobe world and their gear debut at world.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they could have given that to Tanaka when all eyes were on him and that semi-main event.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they could have given that to Kamora to have a little bit of juice on the undercard.
[SPEAKER_00]: and instead they're this unafiliated, un-matching trio that rocks by the way, I love this match.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if we go through Radei Praihoss, and we get to that September cork in,
[SPEAKER_00]: And we see Hamari come on a team for a month with no team name and no matching gear and no logo I'm going to be extremely upset.
[SPEAKER_00]: There is no reason for them to wait.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like they have something here.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like Tanaka and his first trio smash as a unit leader stepped up to the plate and hit a three-run home run This guy is unbelievable.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought Commora was great.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was nice to see how Mario wrestlers of babyface
[SPEAKER_00]: but they have to give me something to latch on to.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me at least put the t-shirt in my online shopping card and think about paying for the international shipping.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me get connected to this unit in some way.
[SPEAKER_00]: Give them a song, give them a logo, give them a gear.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's get on with it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I'm ready to push all my chipset on these three guys, but they're not letting me place the bet right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, what's the date that they have to have it by Tuesday?
[SPEAKER_01]: they should have to have it on Tuesday that before the rate a prey hoss match or do they have a rate a prey hoss matching quarkin they do not they do not because homara's facing shinskaiwalk that's right uh i think that they that there should be a tenaka and kamora versus someone match it it could be tacashim and punch them in agia
[SPEAKER_01]: and they come out with the scroll with the logo and they all have the t-shirts on and on Tuesday, they should all have the new gear.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't see how I just can't found them and not being their number one focus.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what the holdup would be and the longer they wait, the bigger of an issue this is going to be.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what my fear is?
[SPEAKER_01]: My fear is that there go like, oh, we need to give Zenith a wide birth and then Zenith is going to be a two person tag team for six months.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, like that is like, why, okay, you gave Kobe world to Zenith.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now you need to take care of Tanaka going and at that point,
[SPEAKER_01]: you should probably have a fourth member, you know, like that, like it should be something where I don't know necessarily who you're pulling that fourth member from.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if it's like Seattle get over here, you're with us now, but that they need to be feeling like you united for sooner rather than later, because they have all the moments in the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: Camora was a relivation and Camora was unbelievable in this match.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, one small straw machine J is asked from the start to having a great baby face and parallel stretch to the amount of how giving KZ was and how he gave Camora a bunch during that closing stretch.
[SPEAKER_01]: This felt like a Camora is like real coming out party.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought Komora was exceptional against Flambita too, which I wasn't really expecting, but I thought they had really good chemistry.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I look, I'm not worried about Komora.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he's going to be a huge star, and I think he's going to be capital G great.
[SPEAKER_00]: Camora, at least in terms of my interest in that pecking order, blue by him in this match.
[SPEAKER_00]: I, to knock it was incredible.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tanaka looked like a future ace.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought the Tanaka Kazeys stuff early on was so telling that Tanaka walked in there with a new dreamgate champion at a 20-year pro and looked every bit on his level.
[SPEAKER_00]: That opening sequence with Tanaka and Kazeys was utterly fasting today.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was watching this match with laser focus, waiting to see who was gonna slip up between,
[SPEAKER_00]: Casey's strong machine J. Tanaka, homora.
[SPEAKER_00]: Komora, for me to didn't really factor into this match as much, but I was waiting to see if any of those guys were going to slip up.
[SPEAKER_00]: None of them did.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tanaka, again, carries himself like a main eventer.
[SPEAKER_00]: I maintain the idea that the focus of Casey's dream gate run should be paving the way for Tanaka to win the dream gate belt off of them and I think it's a really interesting story if they decided to go down that route based on this match and I think their chemistry will speak for itself over time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no, it was just the kind of match that you want to see out of your young baby face generation all you did on their first night as a as a three person team and and I like that how Marie other than the curtain the the certain tune things that I think he's going to always kind of do he seems like he's always going to enter through the crowd that's going to kind of be
[SPEAKER_01]: Feel like that this Tanaka gun group like the sooner I think we could stop calling on the Tanaka gun the better and Geez Real yet Tanaka Is he he's not gonna have the matchout put to be like number one most outstanding, but when we get to the end of the year If you're thinking observer awards and like that kind of thing
[SPEAKER_01]: He's put the ends himself together a such a sneaky 2026 that's gonna be hard for me to be like no He can't be number three on my ballot.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, he just feels like that he is just in his 30 year just hitting a New year and after New year and I feel like that he's only had one bad step ever and his career and that's completely been a race at by this point
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's funny because it must have not been impactful because I can't even I can't even think of what you're referencing missing the star dust at the world last year.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: God.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that turned into nothing.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and they like the luckily.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if you saw the the video compilation they put together, but of all of his brave gate wins, but he's got 11 clean
[SPEAKER_00]: It's ended up working out great form.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he is to me the most entertaining wrestler on the roster, at least on his show and show out basis, because he's given stuff to do where a jack-in retud still just a total crap shoot as to what they're going to be involved with.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, going forward when I look at these cards, my eyes are going to go to what are Tanaka, how Maran, Kamora doing before I look at anything else on these shows.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think this could be a very special unit.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just want to wrap my arms around them.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to be able to care.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to be able to be invested in this unit.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think it's really concerning that they didn't get the shine at the Kobe World Press Conference.
[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't get the shine at Kobe World.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they didn't get the shine on this Kobe Somal Hall show.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I really think it's a massive mistake if they go through that whole rate-a-pray-house tournament, which by the way, Tanaka's not in, which I have thoughts on that later.
[SPEAKER_00]: But with Homari and Khomari teaming for an entire month, if they don't have a team name, they don't have a unit name,
[SPEAKER_00]: I think this company's phoning it in, and I think that would be really disappointing to say.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no, that'd be a complete bummer.
[SPEAKER_01]: Before we move on to talking about Ray Day, Praha's face the next, finally hit the Dragon Gate Network, and all the other streaming services over the last week.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was from May 12th, it was the United Japan show
[SPEAKER_01]: Not Shinkiba firsturing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Shinkuku face, and was made of ended with Reoya Tanaka, teaming with Kazuma Sumi, and I'm going to try and knock a mora from Ghanbaripro, I cannot pronounce that name right now, I apologize.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Dikyah versus Dikyah, Oshima from Pro Wrestling, no a Dikyah guy from New Japan Pro Wrestling, and L illusion from DDT, and
[SPEAKER_01]: an interesting kind of match looking for the future and the idea that this was the young roster members of all the United Japan promotions and coming together and it's Roya Senaka getting the win on the main event and being the one doing the show close promo.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I wanted to watch this main event, and at least just mentioned it here very quickly.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a, you know, a three and a half three and a quarter star match kind of depending on how you're feeling, which by the way, I gave that Kobe Somal Hall made it at three and three quarters, but I do think it was four.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I don't blame you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was right on the cusp there.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: Essential viewing because it were post-COVID world.
[SPEAKER_00]: This could be the thing that sets the direction of the company for the next six months.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think the type of person that's listening to this show, you've got to go out of your way to watch that match.
[SPEAKER_00]: The face to the next main event is not as good, but I really like Sumi, you know, our thoughts on Tanaka are well documented.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then Nagai, Odashima in illusion, I think, is a really interesting trio.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I think Diky Odashima at this point has become one of
[SPEAKER_00]: and a real bright spot on that very murky, very cloudy, no aroster.
[SPEAKER_00]: And unsurprisingly, the highlights of this match were Tanaka and Otashima going at it with one another.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think Otashima is starting to give a lot of love internationally.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he's developing a very big fan base.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't need to pit two wrestlers against one another, but if you're the type of person that loves Otashima, there is no reason why you shouldn't be equally as obsessed with Tanaka.
[SPEAKER_01]: it mune tatsu knock amura i had it i i thought for a second was the guy that junior face at a gombari pro but it's not no it is not no but i i as somebody who has watched an odd amount of gombari pro over the last year i also like this knock amura kid
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I thought he looked really good there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Allusion someone that like as someone who's not a habitual DDT viewer, I've always kind of lumped him in with a damn nation heel, just kind of stuff and did not think very much of him.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when he dropped like the heel act in the middle finger, he was not bad worker, especially for his size.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I was kind of impressed with that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I've made this comparison before.
[SPEAKER_00]: with other wrestlers, I think it is kind of fitting of him too.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like when my wrestlers have a Gabe Sapolsky ring of honor, era polish to them, and illusion strikes me as a jersey all pro wrestler.
[SPEAKER_01]: that's fair.
[SPEAKER_01]: That that that is entirely fair.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he's fine.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think people like him way more than I do.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want him to be great, but I do not think he's a great wrestler.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he can be fun.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whereas Otashima is a great wrestler.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tanaka is a great wrestler.
[SPEAKER_00]: Diking the guy is going to be a great wrestler.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think sumis on the cusp of being very, very good.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think illusions fine.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not into that as much as everybody else is.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so Junior did face Mune Tatsu Nakamura on the Gumbari Show last year.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's worth tracking down if people haven't seen that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I we only mentioned it briefly on this show, but if you were not keeping track of the Masaki mochizuki Gambaray World Heavyweight Championship run last year, that was really fantastic stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, I'm looking at that car now.
[SPEAKER_00]: This was the Gambaray Pro Young Barri Summit from May 10th, 2025.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is actually what got me on a Gambaray Pro kick last year.
[SPEAKER_00]: This junior versus knock a more a match from this show.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can track this down online.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh yeah, I remember watching this match.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's the type of match that you watch and then you wonder why Mochizuki Jr. has been completely phased out of all booking plans and it doesn't really make any sense and it's actually quite frustrating because he's capable of having matches like this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, instead of likely being under a leper costume throughout the entire month of August.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's get into it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ray Day Paray House, my comment on it, I'm going to take the lead on this just for a second if you go right ahead.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, please do.
[SPEAKER_00]: We, we did one of my favorite things in the history of the show last week where I had you try to guess who shrug machine J's partner was for Ray Day Paray House.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm so over the moon excited that you eventually got to the fact that it was Leo and that was so much fun for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I really, really enjoyed that.
[SPEAKER_00]: We now have the full blocks.
[SPEAKER_00]: The A-block is Jackie Kamen Rita, Susumiya Koska and Cagatura, Strong Machine Jane Leon, I thank you, Horguchi and Yasushi Kanda, the open the twin gate champions of E-Shin and Yoshiki Kato, and Showa and is it Mianmyeon?
[SPEAKER_01]: Mianmyeon.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, he'll end me on on a stuffed animal, which means that Joe Lance is going to write off this entire tournament because I can't possibly recommend him anything because he might fast forward to a clip with a stuffed animal and then I'll never hear the end of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: So as it's Shane because of looking at the B block, how good the B block is.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, but again, the A-Vlog comment reads as a sumo character Torah, so I'm wishing Jane Leon, a condon, or Gucci, Eastern and Cato, and he'll
[SPEAKER_00]: and beyond me on, the B-block is Yoshiki or Yukiyoshioka and Coach Binaura, Luis Vante and LCLO Flamita and Sangray as Teca Jr., from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICHIOKU, from ICH
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll give you partial credit for that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm quite excited for that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately, you don't have a ton of making TV, but for me, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th,
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I really don't like the fact that my sinking suspicion is that we're basically getting team 204 versus Xena 3 match series with Kobe Samba Hall being one, the finals of this likely being two, or a match in the semi finals being two, and then probably the twin
[SPEAKER_00]: It's funny, my initial breakdown of this card of this tournament rather led me to a slightly different outcome.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a team that they're featuring really heavily.
[SPEAKER_00]: The same amount as Yoshioca and Manora that caught my eye as maybe the direction they go out of this tournament to avoid that sort of thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, what you're proposing was sort of my big complaint with the result of the Kobe World match.
[SPEAKER_00]: is some sort of weird zenith.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if Retribution project is the right word or vanity run.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I don't know if this is like Hulk and Toe's out when summer adventure tagging 2011 or Ben Kay and King of age 2019, where the whole tournament is just built around their domination, it doesn't feel like that, but it also feels like we might be building to some sort of rematch between those two teams.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think more than likely in the semi-finals rather than finals and then an eventual
[SPEAKER_00]: that I could see them wanting to do something with in this tournament specifically, given the way that some of these, some of the roster orders been re-shuffled, you've got these new units, I kind of left thinking that Cello and Monte are my favorites to win this tournament.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the team that I think I'm going to write a little bit here.
[SPEAKER_00]: They wrestle Yoshiyoka and Minora on August 30th in Nara,
[SPEAKER_00]: in the last block show of the tournament and I feel like that match will very easily, very obviously determined, who makes it to the semi finals out in that B block.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I could see this being a Cello and Monta tournament and I could see them winning this entire thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, because they are the two pieces of the puzzle that it feels like they're going to keep them independent.
[SPEAKER_01]: It feels like that this is something that you can kick that zineeth can down the road by winning, you know.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that the two have great chemistry together as a team and at least looking at the lineups and the team and in TV.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're featured in a lot of places and I think something also that might be worth noting case.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if you caught the news today about a real bad earthquake in kinemoto.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't, I haven't heard from anyone in the company, but that Kunimoto show on August 24th with the tournament, there might be some moving around happening in this, just because of that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, interesting.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not.
[SPEAKER_00]: I saw there was no quick there, but that's something to keep an eye on going forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know where this hall is close to Kunimoto Castle, but Kunimoto Castle was damaged in the earthquake.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm certain one of our listeners probably knows and the difference in if that's the case.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, we'll send the bad signal out for John Carroll.
[SPEAKER_00]: That seems like something that John would be able to help us out with.
[SPEAKER_01]: So as for sure.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they would know.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean that very genuinely, by the way, just a case that came across our cast.
[SPEAKER_00]: That does seem like something John would know.
[SPEAKER_00]: So hopefully they have some insight there as for.
[SPEAKER_00]: the televised matches like I'm gonna run these down all at once and then you can give me your thoughts the August 4th Corcorcan Hall show we are getting to sumo ucosca in cagotaur versus strong machine j in liona show and mian mian versus isian and yoshi kikato and else yellow and Luis vante versus flimita and sangria as teca junior we have the 811 who made a stelo hall show
[SPEAKER_00]: We have the 816 Kobe Sama Hall show where we are getting Yankee Horaguchi and Yasushi Kanda versus Hio.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the on-be-on, Humari and Kazuma Kamura versus Madoka Kukuta and Jason Lee.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Yukiyoshioka and Coachmanaur versus Guchi and Aki on that show.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have a Fukuoka double header.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Aia or the afternoon show, we are getting a strong machine, Jane Leone versus Isha and Yoshiki Kato.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Yukiyoshioka and Coachmanaur versus Humari and Kazuma Kamura.
[SPEAKER_00]: The evening show, we are getting Jackie Kame and Rita versus Susumi Yukosuke and Kakitora and Gucci and Aki versus Badoca Kukuta and Jason Lee.
[SPEAKER_00]: We will round out our television footage on August 30th and Nara with Jackie Kame and Rita versus Ishan and Yoshihikato and Yuki Yoshio and Coach Bendoara versus LCLO and Luis Mante.
[SPEAKER_00]: When you break that down in the A-block,
[SPEAKER_00]: E shouldn't Kato have three televised matches, strong machine J and Leonah have three televised matches, and heo and Mianmyeon have three televised matches, command retagate to Sussumu Kagatora get to and Gankihore Gucci in your sushi kind of get one televised match.
[SPEAKER_00]: For the B-block, Yoshiyoka and Menorigate three, C-L-O-N-Mante get three, and Jason and Kuku to get three,
[SPEAKER_00]: Pomora and Komora and Gucci and Oki both have two televised matches, and Flamita and Sangri as Teca Jr. get the one televised match in cork and at the start of the tour.
[SPEAKER_00]: What jumps out to you there, Mike?
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, until you laid it out there, I didn't think we were going to get red.
[SPEAKER_01]: Going to have to speak about me on me on, but like, no more matches, televised and coming in
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, more matches, televised, and then Flamida and Sondraias.com.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, more matches, all the ice, and Sondraias, and Sondraias.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, the thing that makes the Beyond Mount situation so worse is that it's clearly, if they're going to do what they did before, it's going to be Mochizuki Jr. painted up in paint and in a leopard, like, one zoo.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hate to ask this question.
[SPEAKER_00]: I never thought I would have to, but I'm now in a position where I do have they done that before and I just completely blocked it out of my mind.
[SPEAKER_01]: it was something at prime zone.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, well, that's okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's why I didn't know about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, look, if he was going to have one televised match, I wouldn't go, oh, maybe it's some goofy cork and thing where he actually tries to wrestle with the stuff to animal, but it's not.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got three televised matches.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're in notable buildings.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would assume he's going to have a human with him, and I would assume that for whatever reason that human has to be Boatres of Kijunier.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I do really think that's going to be him for the entire tournament wrestling in a one z
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's absolutely awful.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's really terrible.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't see them advancing the semi-finals.
[SPEAKER_00]: No.
[SPEAKER_01]: No.
[SPEAKER_00]: I see that as E.C.
[SPEAKER_00]: and Cato, and then I guess, Came and Rita, I mean, maybe Susumu and Cacator have a little bit of a run there, but between the goofiness of heo and his team, and the fact that I don't really think they're gonna seriously push Leona, I think that A-Block kind of dwindles down to the courage when gate champions, and then whether it's Came and Rita, Susumu and Cacator is sort of interchangeable at that point,
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you're right about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: It does kind of like lean heavily in that one kind of direction and be blocked.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's going to be Montencielo and Yoshiyoka Menorah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that feels like the safe bed.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, those are two of the three teams that have three televised matches with Jason Kuku to think the other one.
[SPEAKER_00]: I personally do not have a ton of interest in a
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't need them to go down that route.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would rather Jason Kuku to just get knocked out of that tournament late their contenders, but they're not going all the way.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think they can have a very fun run.
[SPEAKER_00]: Before I asked you your most anticipated matches, because I have three that I've circled as things that I really care about.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do want to know this tournament no kazy, no tenaka, no Yamano, no dragon kid.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are under the impression that for what was dangerous gate that big Tokyo show in September.
[SPEAKER_00]: They are building to KZ versus Yamamoto.
[SPEAKER_01]: What's the name of the new Tokyo show and out of ward?
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know something stupid.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is Tokyo Infinity Hectopascal.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just wanted to hear you say it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think you need this company.
[SPEAKER_00]: Remember, Rimmland Dragon used to bring me so much joy.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just fucking company man.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's, remember when everything was in the right place.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was like, okay, it's dangerous gate.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then it goes, Kobe world, then dangerous gate.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then gate of destiny.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then before you know, it's final gate.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's like, oh, those have gates in the title.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then it's like, gate of base item.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, that's a great name, you know.
[SPEAKER_01]: And said, we have all of this AI bullshit.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tokyo and Finity Hector Pascal.
[SPEAKER_00]: I certainly won't feel like an idiot writing that down when I do that show review.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, we are under the impression they're doing KZ versus Yamato at that show for the Dream Gate Bell.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we are under the impression they are doing Tanaka versus Dragon Kid for the Brave Gate Show, or for the Brave Gate Bell on that show.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's very interesting.
[SPEAKER_00]: They did not give KZ a team.
[SPEAKER_00]: They did not give Yamato a team.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's very, very hard to build a world title match during a tournament tour when those guys are not in the tournament, because just I think naturally the tournament's going to pull focus on our eyes we're going to go there.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll be very curious to see how they're lined up in cork and assuming they're on opposite sides to each other on the same match, who knows?
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe they just forego building that match altogether, then they just announced it just
[SPEAKER_01]: and i'm also super curious to see without partners uh... because the the two stable made c has or in this tournament what they do with tenacle for the next month yeah because at least with uh... kz and uh... yamano you could always go okay who are the people and paradox and uh... natural lives without tournament matches you know but for whatever night and you're able to pieces there
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, and this is like the other reason why they need to further get this, get this show on the road to knock a gun, and he needs to have like a fourth member because of that.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I don't know who that fourth member is at this point, but it does feel like that that should be happening a lot sooner rather than later.
[SPEAKER_00]: You would think, you would absolutely think.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, I don't know if it's Fuda.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if they're going to do some sort of unit with Montana and Seattle at the helm, and maybe they throw somebody else in there.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love the trio they have.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just want to see them build towards that trio.
[SPEAKER_00]: And unsurprisingly, given the performance they had, on that Kobe Somal Hall show, the Hamari Komora stuff is one of my most anticipated matches of the tournament.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to give you three matches, Mike, and I'll give you a second to sort of look through those cards again and figure out what your three most anticipated matches are.
[SPEAKER_00]: But for me, number one with a bullet, Kame and Rita versus a subuncagatorer from the evening show on H-23 in Fukuoka,
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the rematch from the Twingate match earlier this year that I think is one of the ten best matches of twenty twenty six.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought they should have had line this upcoming core can show with this match.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would hope to God they headline a Fukuoka show with that match.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is my most anticipated match of this tournament.
[SPEAKER_00]: Number two.
[SPEAKER_00]: from the Fukuoka afternoon show that same day would be menorah and Yoshioca versus Humare and Komora.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am really curious to see what that would look like.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the number three just because I think the stakes for this match could end up being super high.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I like when Yoshioca wrestles Montes specifically.
[SPEAKER_00]: My third most anticipated match is menorah and Yoshioca versus Sielo and Monte from the 830 Norris show.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so I have three completely different matches I'm gonna throw in here for
[SPEAKER_01]: I am so bummed that we're only getting one song graze tech a junior match, but LCLO and Louise Montave versus Will Mita and song graze tech a junior, that is the one match on cork and that I'm most looking forward to, including Shune Skywalkers Fairwell.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's wild, that it's Shune Skywalkers Fairwell on Tuesday.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we have us for any time talking about it, because honestly, who cares?
[SPEAKER_01]: because he's such a non-factor in the day-to-day these days.
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, anyways, uh, the next one, I'm going to Kobe Samba Hall.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I am fascinated in the idea of what kind of match young vibes versus Zenef might be.
[SPEAKER_00]: That would be my fourth vote.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was between them and the Dora match.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that looks super, super fun also.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that there is just a level of meat to it that I want to see like Oki versus Yoshio, I think that's fascinating.
[SPEAKER_01]: Menora is getting a personality now and him dealing with Gucci.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it has has some levels.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that there's something to really kind of get into that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I,
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of my interests in this tournament I think actually is young vibes because I, on that evening, uh, uh, Fukuoka, Gucci versus Kakura.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that that has a high, high floor like just like the and there's a chance of this match could be a two minute could I just runs his ass through Gucci and pens and three like there's a chance of that could happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope it's not that way, but I am salivating the chance of that match up and then.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and Nara, I think that you have, I would like to see this Kamei and Rita versus Eshen and Kato match, the kind of B, it feels so dumb that they were like emits of all like the tag title bullshit that was eating up most the first part of the year, but
[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like there's a chance like to trip it away and have a pure match between these two teams.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I know that there are the teams that face off a golden call and see him.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a rematch here.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think that that if there's a chance for this to kind of be like a hot, high-Octane match without the Gajadoka road trappings between these two teams that has to be here.
[SPEAKER_00]: You would think I think it should be a really fun match.
[SPEAKER_00]: Look, that A-block is a mess.
[SPEAKER_00]: The heo stuff took a lot of my excitement away from the tournament.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think Horguchi and Kondo being in their sucks, because the Leon of Thing is not awesome, but Leon of Thing does not bother me in the same way that the heo thing does and that Horguchi and Kondo being in their does.
[SPEAKER_00]: What really sucks, what really killed a lot of my excitement for this tournament is, show partnering with the stuff to animal and Kome and Rita not having a cork and haul match.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's totally unacceptable.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we don't have anything announced for Cork and other than the zero thing and sky walker versus Humor, right.
[SPEAKER_00]: So realistically, they could have done Komora and Tanaka in an opening tag match against whoever or an opening, you know, throw him in there with food.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I don't give a shit.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, you can do an open trio as match.
[SPEAKER_00]: The rest of that show should have been Ray Day pre-host matches.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what else they have planned, but I really wanted to see more tag matches on that Cork and show.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, especially with the fact that like a match is that we're not going to see we're not going to see Hamari and Kazuma kumura versus Gucci and Oki that would have been of course God you're right that that sucks.
[SPEAKER_00]: I really want to see that match
[SPEAKER_01]: Right, uh, we will, we will probably not see Yoshioka and Kamura versus Melita and Songra's Taka since they don't, they, they don't record Kinky Hord Gucci show, homecoming shows even if this show happens, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, maybe just the one that was really, really good and they never filmed it again.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, is Songra's Taka working the, this entire tour because,
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe Zina versus Felmeda and Aztaqa gets moved to like Boohuaoka.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, I mean, that shows up on the way.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll be under the impression that that show happens just until we hear otherwise.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's a bummer we're not here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's fair.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's a bummer we're not getting C.L.O.
[SPEAKER_00]: and Montavers is home already and comora from Kagoshima on August 21st.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I mean, I don't, I mean, Mike, you did it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so remind me now, as I sort of run out of steam here at the end of the show, they did not do Ray Day Paray House last year.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, I feel like between the two of us, we got to know that, but we don't, I don't think they did raday for hours last year, and that's why actually, raday for a hours, 20, 25 or minute only.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, no, 20, 25 was Shinmaray.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yes.
[SPEAKER_00]: They did it.
[SPEAKER_00]: They did a march.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was the Kobe sambal hall.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that geez.
[SPEAKER_01]: Both of us are running out of the same forgetting like that big Kobe sambal hall show.
[SPEAKER_00]: But today they did do digest for that, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because we were watching those hockey matches and kind of going like, oh, hockey is sort of stealing this tournament from Humoray and then Humoray had that great last night.
[SPEAKER_00]: So who knows?
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe we get more of this tournament that we thought, but the network only has those shows listed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Corquant, Osaka, Kobe, Fukuoka, and Nara.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, that's right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm I'm looking at last year's tournament and I completely forgot that Kourishia Tokyo Japan was he was partner.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just never, I think the issue is he'll can't be and these tag tournaments anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, not allowed because he's so good when he's not doing bullshit.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I was just getting bullshit.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was getting so bothered just because my noise tolerance is so low as I get older about him whistling and having the whistle in the ring like I'm so glad that it was dropped this week because I don't know if I could do another week of this of him stomping and whistling just for my ear drums case I have a fun thing for us to go out on I don't just saw this
[SPEAKER_01]: But the Best Dress Award, 2026 for Dragon Gate at the Kobe Pro Wrestling Festival, 2026 Eve Party happened.
[SPEAKER_01]: It received over a thousand votes case.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will, there are four people who got the main prizes.
[SPEAKER_01]: There was a tie for silver.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a gold two silver and a bronze.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want you to guess who you think got gold tied for silver and bronze.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh god, I think he'll probably got gold, Tanaka and Yoshioka tied for silver and let's say junior or got bronze.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, Yoshioka is gold, KZ and BB Hulk are silver and bronze was really it's not good dressing up like Jesse Jimson.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, Tanaka deserved all the love there.
[SPEAKER_00]: More power to him as for the rest of those, you know, let us only hope that their dressing ability guides them in the ring and we have some more great matches in the second half of the drink it's year.
[SPEAKER_01]: I hear you, Kase.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's going to do it for us this time on Open the Voice Gate.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll be back with you a day later.
[SPEAKER_01]: Next week, talking about the Ray Day spray house kickoff cork and a fair well-to-shoon skywalker.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we'll see what else they throw against the wall for that cork and show.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can follow us on Twitter, cases that aren't scoring your case.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm at Fuji Haya, open the voice gates on both Twitter and Blue Sky at Open Voice Gate and there's a voice is a wrestling discord where there's the Open The Voice Gate channel as well as the Dragon Gate channel that will probably be buzzing throughout the month of August as we get into tag team tournament season.
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's going to do us further this week.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll be back with the next time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Take care.