{"id":114458,"date":"2022-07-06T10:00:23","date_gmt":"2022-07-06T14:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=114458"},"modified":"2022-07-05T21:22:11","modified_gmt":"2022-07-06T01:22:11","slug":"dragon-gate-kai-vs-shuji-kondo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2022\/07\/06\/dragon-gate-kai-vs-shuji-kondo\/","title":{"rendered":"Match Point: Dragon Gate &#8211; KAI (c) vs Shuji Kondo, Hopeful Gate 2022 (7\/7\/22)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Match Point is an ongoing series at Last Word on Pro Wrestling, where we look at intriguing matchups in indie wrestling and beyond. They may be dream matches, first-time matchups, or hotly anticipated rematches. At <strong>Hopeful Gate 2022<\/strong>, <strong>KAI<\/strong> puts the Open the Dream Gate Championship on the line against <strong>Shuji Kondo<\/strong>. Here&#8217;s what to know.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling<\/strong> has been on quite the roll in 2022, and they\u2019ve continued to roll on by keeping things interesting. The whole road map to <em>Kobe World<\/em> could change as we have the second Open the Dream Gate Championship match in Korakuen Hall this year. This is a rematch of the most polarizing bout in <strong>King of Gate 2022<\/strong> where Shuji Kondo beat KAI in 39 seconds. However, it originally wasn\u2019t supposed to happen. The embarrassment KAI felt was enough to allow him to convince Dragon Gate General Manager <strong>Ryo Saito<\/strong> to bump Kondo to the front of the line. Yet, this match pitting KAI against Shuji Kondo at <em>Hopeful Gate 2022<\/em> has years upon years of history.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u25bcOpen the Dream Gate Championship<br \/>(Champion)<br \/>KAI<br \/>vs.<br \/>(Challenger)<br \/>Shuji Kondo<\/p>\n<p>\u25bcSkateboard contra Caballera<br \/>Dragon Dia<br \/>vs.<br \/>Don Fujii<br \/>\u2b50\ufe0eSpecial guest referee: GM Ryo Saito <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Q4wjWNI17Y\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/Q4wjWNI17Y<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Dragongate Japan Pro-Wrestling (Official English) (@DragonGateEN) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DragonGateEN\/status\/1543599426245394432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 3, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2><strong>KAI vs Shuji Kondo, Hopeful Gate 2022<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The Backstory <\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">KAI and Shuji Kondo have been connected together for years upon years. They were in <strong>All Japan Pro Wrestling<\/strong> together, and there, KAI defeated Kondo to become World Junior Champion in Ryogoku Sumo Hall. Then both men followed <strong>Keiji Mutoh<\/strong> to the <strong>Wrestle-1<\/strong> promotion where Kondo was the head trainer and KAI was one of the first ace projects alongside <strong>Seiya Sanada<\/strong>. However, KAI never was able to reach the level W-1 had hoped and his reigns were often short and unremarkable. KAI eventually began freelancing once again while Kondo stayed with the company until it closed down.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">KAI began appearing in Dragon Gate due to his relationship with the departing <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/12\/21\/wrestlers-the-year-shingo-takagi\/\" target=\"_self\"><strong>Shingo Takagi<\/strong><\/a>, and being a drinking partner of <strong>YAMATO<\/strong>. He stuck around after breaking <strong>BxB Hulk\u2019s<\/strong> neck on accident to fulfill Hulk\u2019s commitments as he was truly sorry. Soon he stopped appearing in other promotions and became mainly based in Dragon Gate. When W-1 shut down, Shuji Kondo came back home to Dragon Gate to be with his <strong>Toryumon<\/strong> brethren. The two had brief interactions, but KAI became Dream Gate Champion and finally seem to become that top guy people knew he could be. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The Challenge <\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">KAI\u2019s Dream Gate run has been quite different from others, as he mainly has wrestled the power fighters of Dragon Gate. He wanted to prove himself as the strongest, and he\u2019s succeeded in proving that thus far. Then the first round of <em>King of Gate 2022<\/em> happened, and if you blinked, you missed 39 seconds of all-out action ending with Shuji Kondo crushing the Dream Gate Champion. Kondo went on to the final four, but eventually lost and <strong>Yuki Yoshioka<\/strong> ended up winning the whole tournament.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Since Yoshioka won, he technically has a right to challenge the Dream Gate Champion, and has done so multiple times. However, KAI says since he didn\u2019t beat him, he doesn\u2019t see how he\u2019s earned anything. Afterward, KAI nominated Shuji Kondo as his next challenger, and hoped for it to be for <em>Kobe World<\/em>. GM Saito had other ideas booking it at the scene of the defeat, Korakuen Hall. Kondo then promised Yoshioka if he let him challenge after he wins, then Yoshioka will get the first shot. Thus, Yoshioka allowed it to happen.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Prediction <\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">There\u2019s no way that KAI isn\u2019t walking into the biggest night of the year as Open the Dream Gate Champion. He\u2019s had a fantastic reign, but what people should be looking out for is what happens afterward. Yoshioka does have the right to challenge, but also <strong>Minoura<\/strong> has stated simply he doesn\u2019t agree with the Dream Gate match taking place at Korakuen. This is perhaps due to the fact he was the one that eliminated Kondo during <em>King of Gate<\/em>. Kondo will hold the belt one day, but it seems like a definite V4 for <strong>Z-Brats\u2019<\/strong> leader.<\/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>Match Point is an ongoing series at Last Word on Pro Wrestling, where we look at intriguing matchups in indie wrestling and beyond. They may be dream matches, first-time matchups, or hotly anticipated rematches. At Hopeful Gate 2022, KAI puts the Open the Dream Gate Championship on the line against Shuji Kondo. Here&#8217;s what to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3712,"featured_media":114462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[6701,13,6975,2192],"tags":[4530,7548,2236],"class_list":["post-114458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dragon-gate","category-international","category-international-wrestling","category-wrestling","tag-kai","tag-open-the-dream-gate-championship","tag-shuji-kondo"],"modified_by":"Robbie Sutter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114458","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=114458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}