Preview: DRAGONGATE – LEC Presents Buyuden Zero (4/4/23)

DRAGONGATE’s Ironman, Masaaki Mochizuki, used to produce events known as Buyuden. They were essentially a series of one-offs, and these events included a plethora of talent from all across Japan. General Manager Ryo Saito approached Mochizuki about bringing Buyuden back with the idea of the rest of the world versus DRAGONGATE. By the time Mocchy announced the first set of participants, LEC had jumped on volunteering to sponsor the show. That’s what sets our stage for this big night of action. Let’s take a look at the card Shinjuku FACE will see when LEC Presents Buyuden Zero.

LEC Presents Buyuden Zero Full Card

• YAMATO and Punch Tominaga vs Hikaru Sato (Pancrase Mission) and Ryo Kawamura (Pancraseism Yokohama)
• Konomama Ichikawa vs Kuishinbo Kamen (Freelance)
• Susumu Mochizuki and Yasushi Kanda vs Jun Kasai and Takashi Sasaki (FREEDOMS)
• Don Fujii and Madoka Kikuta vs Masato Tanaka and Takuya Sugawara (ZERO1)
• LEC Barusan Special 6 Man Tag Team Match: Masaaki Mochizuki, LEONA (DRADITION), and Mochizuki Junior vs Fujita ‘Jr’ Hayato (Michinoku Pro Wrestling), Strong Machine J, and Taro Nohashi (Michinoku Pro Wrestling)
• Open The Twin Gate Championship: KZY and BIG BOSS Shimizu (c) vs Kenoh (Pro Wrestling NOAH) and Shuji Kondo

【Full card for LEC presents Buyuden Zero】

📅April 4th, 2023
🏟️Tokyo, Shinjuku FACE
📺#dragongatenetwork Live
🔗https://t.co/NJ8LwBpuM4
🛎18:30🇯🇵 / 5:30AM US East / 9:30 GMT#dragongate pic.twitter.com/Q0tW6vSTW6

— Dragongate Japan Pro-Wrestling (Official English) (@DragonGateEN) March 19, 2023

Don Fujii and Madoka Kikuta vs Masato Tanaka and Takuya Sugawara

Don Fujii and Masato Tanaka actually met in a tag match back at a Buyuden event in 2011. They meet again under the same banner, but with a different cast of characters. Takuya Sugawara has tremendous history in DRAGONGATE as well. However, the biggest selling point for this match will be how Madoka Kikuta performs. He faces not just a historic figure in DRAGONGATE history but he also gets to face off with the ZERO1 World Champion. Sugawara and Tanaka are going to test him, and it’ll be interesting to see if this match strengthens or weakens him before his singles with Kota Minoura the very next day.

LEC Barusan Special 6 Man Tag Team Match: Masaaki Mochizuki, LEONA, and Mochizuki Junior vs Fujita ‘Jr’ Hayato, Strong Machine J, and Taro Nohashi

This is the special match set up by the sponsor LEC Barusan, which includes Masaaki Mochizuki himself. This match may seem random, but it’s important to note that the LEC Corporation figurehead is really into the history of pro wrestling. So, the match contains many second-generation wrestlers. With that being said, it does contain Buyuden history with Nohashi and Hayato opposite of Masaaki Mochizuki. Hayato won a Buyuden Tag Tournament alongside Muneori Sawa, then attacked Masaaki Mochizuki, setting up an International Junior Heavyweight Championship match between the two at another Buyuden event back in 2008. Furthermore, Nohashi and Hayato teamed up with KAGETORA to battle Masaaki Mochizuki,  Susumu Yokosuka, and Katsuhiko Nakajima in a Final M2K vs Kowloon showdown at Buyuden Again #3 in 2011.

There are sure to be callbacks between Masaaki and both of those men, and some scrapping between J along with both Junior and LEONA. However, the most interesting pair would be a showdown between Fujita ‘Jr’ Hayato and Mochizuki Junior. It would be a valuable pro wrestling experience that Junior couldn’t get anywhere else but under the Buyuden banner.

Read More: #AndNEW: Masaaki Mochizuki Captures GHC National Championship

Open The Twin Gate Championship: KZY and BIG BOSS Shimizu (c) vs Shuji Kondo and Kenoh

KZY and BIG BOSS Shimizu successfully defended the Open The Twin Gate Championship against the Mochizuki Family back at Memorial Gate 2023 in Wakayama. However, the champion team had no time to celebrate as Shuji Kondo made his way into the ring. However, he was wearing his KONGO tracksuit he usually sports in Pro Wrestling NOAH. This was a big deal because Kondo’s KONGO allegiance is usually not acknowledged in DRAGONGATE. It’s known, but it isn’t like when Eita was in Perros Del Mal De Japon and sported their gear at every show. Kondo asked Masaaki Mochizuki if he remembered who was coming to Buyuden – the leader of KONGO, Kenoh. Kondo then issued his challenge for the Open The Twin Gate Championship alongside Kenoh. Mochizuki stated he couldn’t sign title matches but GM Saito agreed to it.

It’s NATURAL VIBES vs KONGO, and this year, Kenoh has done his fair share of invading companies. This started with New Japan Pro Wrestling and onward to All Japan Pro Wrestling, winning the latter’s world tag team titles alongside Manabu Soya, and now he’s looking to add DRAGONGATE’s Twin Gate Championship. Kenoh invaded DRAGONGATE on two separate occasions, one wasn’t shown and was to hype the DRAGONGATE Amazon Prime series. The other, however, saw him confronting then-Twin Gate Champions King Shimizu and Susumu Yokosuka, challenging for their belts alongside former KONGO member, Haoh. They failed then, but now he can exact revenge on NATURAL VIBES and take the Open The Twin Gate Championship from them.

Read More: Wrestlers of the Year 2021: Kenoh

Where To Watch LEC Presents Buyuden Zero?

The show will air live on Dragon Gate Network at 9:15 GMT, and be available for VOD for the next two weeks.

Image Credit: DRAGONGATE Japan Pro-Wrestling