{"id":85349,"date":"2021-02-20T21:01:17","date_gmt":"2021-02-21T02:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=85349"},"modified":"2021-02-20T21:02:26","modified_gmt":"2021-02-21T02:02:26","slug":"dragon-gate-news-open-the-triangle-gate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/02\/20\/dragon-gate-news-open-the-triangle-gate\/","title":{"rendered":"Dragon Gate News: Open The Triangle Gate #1 Contenders Tournament (02\/20\/21)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/01\/22\/beginners-guide-dragon-gate-roster\/\" target=\"_self\"><strong>Dragon Gate<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0has their big <strong><em>Champion Gate in Osaka<\/em><\/strong> show almost filled out, at least as far as championship matches go. However, something remained missing: no challenger had stepped forward to face the reformed <strong>Natural Vibes<\/strong>. They have been on quite the roll as of late. Enter the recently announced four-team Open The Triangle Gate Championship number one contenders&#8217; tournament. The matches will be determined at the top of the show on the 21st, when the opening round will take place. The finals will take place on the 23rd. Both shows will be available for viewing. Here are the teams involved.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The tournament to determine new #1 contenders to Natural Vibes &amp; the Open the Triangle Gate championship kicks off today in Kyoto. <\/p>\n<p>Watch live on the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/dragongatenetwork?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#dragongatenetwork<\/a> <br \/>\ud83d\udece17:00JST &#8211; 3AM EST &#8211; 8:00GMT<br \/>\ud83c\udfa5<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/NJ8LwBGxO4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/NJ8LwBGxO4<\/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\/TruthGate2021?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#TruthGate2021<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JqzT7Q3hoB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/JqzT7Q3hoB<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Dragongate Japan Pro-Wrestling (Official English) (@DragonGateEN) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DragonGateEN\/status\/1363296576496488449?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 21, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Ryo Saito, Punch Tominaga, and Bokutimo Dragon<\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">This <strong>Team Boku<\/strong> trio hasn\u2019t had a very eventful start to 2021. <strong>Bokutimo Dragon<\/strong> has gotten to team with his idols and has a few wins under his belt. However, they haven\u2019t had any real success this year. <strong>Naruki Doi<\/strong> was injured to start the year, which already was a huge blow for them. Doi was arguably the anchor of the team and their biggest weapon. <strong>Punch Tominaga<\/strong> lost three separate matches against Open The Brave Gate Champion, <strong>Keisuke Okuda<\/strong>. To cap it all off, <strong>Ryo Saito<\/strong> and Bokutimo Dragon failed in the opening round of the Open The Twin Gate Championship one-day number one contenders&#8217; tournament. Thus, this team has their back against the wall right now. This group has been trying to reach their potential; can they do so by becoming the contenders for the Open The Triangle Gate Belts?<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Shuji Kondo, Yosuke\u2661Maria, and Kagetora<\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>Shuji Kondo<\/strong>,<strong>Yosuke\u2661Maria<\/strong>, and <strong>Kagetora<\/strong> is a true dark horse team. As their former factions recently disbanded, these three individuals came together to form a very formidable team. The delinquent King Kong, Shuji Kondo, has yet to be directly defeated since his return to Dragon Gate last year. Coming off of the finals of the previously mentioned Twin Gate tournament, he\u2019s got a lot of momentum. He is joined by Maria and Kagetora, who revived their Kage\u2661Maria tag team from their Tribe Vanguard days. During that same tournament, they met Kondo in the first round. They seem to be sticking together again. Now joined by Kondo, they could definitely come away with the win.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Hip Hop Kikuta, Diamant\u00e9, and Dia Inferno<\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">This trio is representing <strong>R.E.D.<\/strong>, known to monopolize the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. Depending on how this tournament unfolds, they very well could do it again. <strong>Diamant\u00e9<\/strong> technically never lost the Triangle Gate belts, as he had to vacate due to injury. Afterward, he was replaced by <strong>SBKENTo<\/strong>. This is the first chance to chase a shot at gold for <strong>Dia Inferno<\/strong> and <strong>Hip Hop Kikuta<\/strong>. Additionally, this is one of the more interesting trios, because there is no telling what they\u2019ll bring to the table. Of course, Kikuta and Diamant\u00e9 will bring some freakish strength. Combine this with the unknown mystique of Dia Inferno and anything is possible with this trio.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Jason Lee, Kota Minoura, and La Estrella<\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">This <strong>Masquerade<\/strong> trio is probably the odds-on favorite team to win this tournament. <strong>Jason Lee<\/strong> is coming off a string of tough losses recently, though this shouldn&#8217;t fool anyone. Lee and <strong>Kota Minoura<\/strong> emerged as one of the top tag teams in Dragon Gate last year with their reign as Open The Twin Gate Champions. Along with the rookie sensation, <strong>La Estrella<\/strong>, this is a dangerous trio. La Estrella brings innovation and must-see action in between the ropes. However, what makes him truly exciting also makes him the most dangerous. There still isn\u2019t much known about La Estrella, so he can bring out something new at any given time. Lee and Minoura will use their tag experience. To incorporate their already brewing chemistry with La Estrella may create a winning combination.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><em>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<\/em> <em>steaming service\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dragongate.live\/?param=\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dragon Gate Network<\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em><span class=\"s1\">Looking to talk wrestling, pro football, or any number of sports? Head on over to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/boards\/index.php\" target=\"_self\">LWOS Boards<\/a>\u00a0to engage in conversation with fellow fans!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dragon Gate\u00a0has their big Champion Gate in Osaka show almost filled out, at least as far as championship matches go. However, something remained missing: no challenger had stepped forward to face the reformed Natural Vibes. They have been on quite the roll as of late. Enter the recently announced four-team Open The Triangle Gate Championship [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3712,"featured_media":85353,"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":[6701,13,12,2192],"tags":[7311,7135,7278,3846,7312],"class_list":["post-85349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dragon-gate","category-international","category-news","category-wrestling","tag-masquerade","tag-natural-vibes","tag-open-the-triangle-gate-championship","tag-r-e-d","tag-team-boku"],"modified_by":"Robbie Sutter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85349","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=85349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}