On night two of the Open The New Year Gate Korakuen Hall double header, there will be an Open The Dream Gate Championship match. Pitting two of DRAGONGATE’s elite against another, and this match is nearly three years in the making. For Shun Skywalker and Yuki Yoshioka this encounter was always going to happen. While they met in the 2022 King of Gate tournament, this time is different from simply getting a spot in a tournament final. This is for the Dream Gate Championship, and their visions for DRAGONGATE’s future.
⑦ Open the Dream Gate Championship Match
(Champion)
Yuki Yoshioka
vs.
(Challenger)
Shun Skywalker pic.twitter.com/R820FvEuPs— Dragongate Japan Pro-Wrestling (Official English) (@DragonGateEN) January 11, 2023
The Backstory
The two men first became acquainted as a part of the DRAGONGATE dojo in the class of 2016, and from there on they stayed close by. Joining the unit known as Mochizuki Dojo in 2018, and after hitting their own personal rough patches they both found themselves in Mexico together in 2020. This isn’t unusual for young Japanese wrestlers, but these two had already challenged for championships. This trip was so they could find themselves, and come back better than they were before. On November 3, 2022 Shun made his comeback to DRAGONGATE, reborn almost. He immediately made an impact challenging Eita, and winning the Open The Dream Gate Championship.
Skywalker then formed his own unit filled with young wrestlers known as Masquerade. One of these members, Dragon Dia, had his own issues with R.E.D.’s secret weapon Dia Inferno. Dia would finally get to the point where he would shout he thought Inferno was indeed Yuki Yoshioka, but Shun told him he was crazy basically. Shun spent months in Mexico with Yoshioka, and he believed that Yoshioka didn’t go off to Mexico to return as Inferno.
Separate Paths
During a double mask vs mask tag match that included Inferno, Shun, Dia, and Diamanté something happened. Shun sacrificed Dia, and Dia’s mask, to protect himself which caused a major rift in Masquerade. After SBKENTo made fun of Dia for losing his mask, Inferno grabbed the mic and called it out for being a disgusting act. Inferno revealed himself finally to be Yuki Yoshioka, as he left the ring on his own. In the coming weeks, Shun tried to get Masquerade back on track, but the first instances of his psychotic behavior started to show. Eventually, he left the group to join the then R.E.D., but then both Dragon Dia and Yuki Yoshioka made their returns.
Making it known they wanted to go at it as a tag team, and immediately took the Open The Twin Gate Championships. Skywalker and Diamanté as part of the rebranded Z-BRATS took those belts from Dia and Yoshioka. Yoshioka got his revenge by beating Shun to get to the finals of King of Gate 2022, which he ended up winning. Yoshioka won the Dream Gate, and has been on this quest to be the face of DRAGONGATE.
The Match
Yuki Yoshioka has been a tremendous champion, and was so to end out 2022 after defeating fellow class of 2016 classmate Ben-K. After the two shared a moment, Shun was there to belittle his classmates and challenge for the Dream Gate. Yoshioka and Skywalker both have different visions for DRAGONGATE, as Skywalker wants to rid it of all the evil and useless members in his eyes. While Yoshioka wants to showcase DRAGONGATE from top to bottom. However, both seemingly just want to showcase DRAGONGATE to the world. The question is who’s desire burns the brightest, and who will fight the hardest to leave Korakuen as the Dream Gate Champion
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