{"id":106855,"date":"2021-12-25T16:09:02","date_gmt":"2021-12-25T21:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=106855"},"modified":"2021-12-25T16:09:02","modified_gmt":"2021-12-25T21:09:02","slug":"the-final-gate-2021-card-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/12\/25\/the-final-gate-2021-card-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"Preview: Dragon Gate &#8211; The Final Gate 2021 (12\/26\/21)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling<\/strong> is putting on their yearly big event in December. Live from Fukuoka Kokusai Center, it\u2019s <strong><em>The Final Gate 2021<\/em><\/strong>. Two championships are on the line and grudges will be settled. Here is a rundown of the action.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Dragon Gate &#8211; The Final Gate 2021 Full Card<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>Masaaki Mochizuki<\/strong>, <strong>Don Fujii<\/strong>, <strong>Yasushi Kanda<\/strong>, and <strong>Kagetora<\/strong> vs <strong>Shoya Sato<\/strong>, <strong>Takuma Fujiwara<\/strong>, <strong>Takumi Hayakawa<\/strong>, and <strong>Ryu Fuda<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>Punch Tominaga<\/strong> and <strong>Ultra Soki<\/strong>(<strong>Ryukyu Dragon Pro Wrestling<\/strong>) vs <strong>Strong Machine J<\/strong> and <strong>Churaumi Saver<\/strong>(Ryukyu Dragon Pro Wrestling)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>La Estrella<\/strong> vs <strong>Diamant\u00e9 <\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>Riki Iihashi<\/strong> and <strong>Ishin Iihashi<\/strong> vs <strong>U-T<\/strong> and <strong>Susumu Yokosuka <\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>Ultimo Dragon<\/strong>, <strong>Jason Lee<\/strong>, and <strong>Yosuke\u2661Santa Maria<\/strong> vs <strong>Genki Horiguchi, Konomama<\/strong> <strong>Ichikawa<\/strong>\u00a0, and <strong>Shachihoko Boy<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\"> If Skywalker Loses, He Must Leave Masquerade: <strong>Shun Skywalker<\/strong> vs <strong>Kota Minoura <\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>KZY<\/strong>, <strong>Big Boss Shimizu<\/strong>, and <strong>Jacky \u201cFunky\u201d Kamei<\/strong> vs <strong>Dragon Kid<\/strong>, <strong>Keisuke Okuda<\/strong>, and <strong>Ben-K<\/strong> vs <strong>Kaito Ishida<\/strong>, <strong>BxB Hulk<\/strong>, and <strong>Eita<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Open The Twin Gate Championship: <strong>Naruki Doi<\/strong> and <strong>Takashi Yoshida <\/strong>(c) vs <strong>H\u2022Y\u2022O<\/strong> and <strong>SBKENTo<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Open The Dream Gate Championship: <strong>YAMATO <\/strong>(c) vs <strong>KAI<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">If Skywalker Loses, He Must Leave Masquerade: Shun Skywalker vs Kota Minoura <\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Things in <strong>Masquerade<\/strong> are not what they once were. When the group formed one year ago, it seemed like it was the Dragon Gate faction of the future. The first half of this year seemingly confirmed that with the emergence of Kota Minoura. Then the tag team mask vs mask happened and Shun Skywalker, the leader of the group, sacrificed <strong>Dragon Dia<\/strong> to save his own mask. This resulted in Dia unmasking and losing his status as the heir apparent to Dragon Kid, which has been met with great hate from the other members of the unit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Skywalker finally apologized after trying his hardest not to. Minoura mentioned Skywalker hadn\u2019t called and checked on Dia at all. Skywalker figured the best way for them to be a unit again was to become Open The Triangle Gate Champions. They won the belts, and Minoura still wasn\u2019t happy. That was until Skywalker brought up the idea of the two having a singles match and Minoura bringing a stipulation to the table; if Skywalker loses, the Triangle Gate belts are vacated and he must leave the group. While all this is going on, Naruki Doi announced a new unit and has aggressively started pursuing Minoura for that group. Will any of this play into the aftermath of the match?<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u301012\/26 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/%E7%A6%8F%E5%B2%A1%E5%9B%BD%E9%9A%9B%E3%82%BB%E3%83%B3%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#\u798f\u5ca1\u56fd\u969b\u30bb\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc<\/a> \u30bb\u30df\u30d5\u30a1\u30a4\u30ca\u30eb \u30c8\u30ec\u30fc\u30e9\u30fc\u3011<br \/>\u30aa\u30fc\u30d7\u30f3\u30fb\u30b6\u30fb\u30c4\u30a4\u30f3\u30b2\u30fc\u30c8\u9078\u624b\u6a29\u8a66\u5408<br \/>[\u738b\u8005\u7d44]<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/%E5%9C%9F%E4%BA%95%E6%88%90%E6%A8%B9?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#\u571f\u4e95\u6210\u6a39<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NarukiDoi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@NarukiDoi<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/%E5%90%89%E7%94%B0%E9%9A%86%E5%8F%B8?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#\u5409\u7530\u9686\u53f8<\/a>@cyberkongDG<br \/>vs<br \/>[\u6311\u6226\u8005\u7d44]<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/H%E3%83%BBY%E3%83%BBO?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#H\u30fbY\u30fbO<\/a> @watanabehyo14<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SBKENTo?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#SBKENTo<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kobunekento?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@kobunekento<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hYT6BTIFko\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/hYT6BTIFko<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DRAGONGATE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#DRAGONGATE<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ProWrestling?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#ProWrestling<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/TheFinalGate2021?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#TheFinalGate2021<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/r7aGwNoaz7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/r7aGwNoaz7<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; DRAGONGATE (@dragongate_pro) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dragongate_pro\/status\/1474110952581001216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 23, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Open The Twin Gate Championship: Naruki Doi and Takashi Yoshida(c) vs H\u2022Y\u2022O and SBKENTo<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Naruki Doi and Takashi Yoshida just <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/11\/27\/naruki-doi-takashi-yoshida-open-the-twin-gate\/\" target=\"_self\">recently captured the Open The Twin Gate Championship<\/a>, but it seems like their reign could already be in jeopardy. They faced H\u2022Y\u2022O and SBKENTo recently at KBS Hall. Despite the underhanded tactics used by the <strong>R.E.D.<\/strong> duo, Doi and Yoshida were the victors. At the time, H\u2022Y\u2022O was one-third of the Open The Triangle Gate Champions. Additionally, SBKENTo is the current Open The Brave Gate Champion. These were their reasons for challenging at <em>The Final Gate 2021<\/em>, potentially becoming double champions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">GM <strong>Ryo Saito<\/strong> mentioned that it could be rather interesting with double champions and signed the match. Since then, H\u2022Y\u2022O lost his belt while SBK held onto his. Also, Doi and Yoshida had a clear victory over the two before <strong>U-T<\/strong> stole the pin in a three-way elimination match. Afterward, Doi announced his new unit and chase for Kota Minoura. Will Doi be focused enough to successfully retain the Twin Gate belts? Will the R.E.D. team capture their first Open The Twin Gate Championship together?<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u301012\/26 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/%E7%A6%8F%E5%B2%A1%E5%9B%BD%E9%9A%9B%E3%82%BB%E3%83%B3%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#\u798f\u5ca1\u56fd\u969b\u30bb\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc<\/a> \u30e1\u30a4\u30f3\u30a4\u30d9\u30f3\u30c8 \u30c8\u30ec\u30fc\u30e9\u30fc\u3011<br \/>\u30aa\u30fc\u30d7\u30f3\u30fb\u30b6\u30fb\u30c9\u30ea\u30fc\u30e0\u30b2\u30fc\u30c8\u9078\u624b\u6a29\u8a66\u5408<br \/>[\u738b\u8005]<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/YAMATO?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#YAMATO<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/yamato_oldtype?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@yamato_oldtype<\/a><br \/>vs<br \/>[\u6311\u6226\u8005]<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/KAI_kof?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#KAI_kof<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kai0222?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@kai0222<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hYT6BTIFko\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/hYT6BTIFko<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DRAGONGATE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#DRAGONGATE<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ProWrestling?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#ProWrestling<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/TheFinalGate2021?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#TheFinalGate2021<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/spruvgeahW\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/spruvgeahW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; DRAGONGATE (@dragongate_pro) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dragongate_pro\/status\/1474269839531606018?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 24, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Open The Dream Gate Championship: YAMATO (c) vs KAI<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Things between YAMATO and KAI seemed they were finally over after KAI lost a No DQ No Rope Match to YAMATO. This gave YAMATO the momentum he needed to challenge for the Dream Gate Championship once again. However, that was not the case after YAMATO won the Open The Dream Gate Championship. Rather, this reignited their rivalry with KAI, who&#8217;s been lobbying for a title match since the beginning. KAI then proved himself after pinning the men who challenged YAMATO during this Dream Gate title reign, as well as YAMATO himself. With this, KAI earned a title opportunity at <em>The Final Gate 2021<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">What is presumingly the final clash between the two is interesting. During the go-home show at Korakuen Hall, KAI spoke about how he thought Dragon Gate was the best promotion in the world. He came after YAMATO again to become the top champion in what he deems to be the best promotion in the world. Meanwhile, YAMATO has made it clear he is making sure this will be the last time they meet in a singles match. Can YAMATO turn back his rival once and for all, or will KAI open the Dream Gate?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em><span class=\"s1\">Stay tuned to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_self\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a>\u00a0for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. Looking to watch Dragon Gate? All their live shows will be on their steaming service\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dragongate.live\/?param=\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dragon Gate Network<\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling is putting on their yearly big event in December. Live from Fukuoka Kokusai Center, it\u2019s The Final Gate 2021. Two championships are on the line and grudges will be settled. Here is a rundown of the action. Dragon Gate &#8211; The Final Gate 2021 Full Card Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii, Yasushi [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3712,"featured_media":106860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6701,6975,13,2192],"tags":[3762,8198,4530,7110,4735,5941,7012,7008,7011,1394],"class_list":["post-106855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dragon-gate","category-international-wrestling","category-international","category-wrestling","tag-dragon-kid","tag-hyo","tag-kai","tag-kota-minoura","tag-kzy","tag-naruki-doi","tag-sbkento","tag-shun-skywalker","tag-takashi-yoshida","tag-yamato"],"modified_by":"Robbie Sutter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3712"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}