By Tokyo Wrestling Fan @twf87
Hot on the heels of an epic Dominion show was the next instalment of the Lion’s Gate Project. The Young Lions didn’t make it onto the Dominion card, so this was a chance for them to show off on a smaller stage. Shota Umino was in the main event of this card, taking on Ayato Yoshida of KAIENTAI DOJO, who lost to Yuji Nagata at the last Lion’s Gate Project.
Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura – Another Lion’s Gate opening match, another time-limit draw between the two newest Young Lions. The crowd was invested in this match, particularly in the underdog Uemura, who is the more technical of the two but less physically powerful. Tsuji used his power to bully Uemura in the match, focusing particularly on his legs to soften him up for a Boston Crab. The bell rang just as Tsuji locked in a Boston Crab and the referee forced him to break the hold. One day one of these two will get a win, and it will mean so much more to the people who have been following their progress across all the shows.
Winner: Time-limit Draw, 10:00
Narita Ren vs. Shunsuke Sayama – Shunsuke Sayama is a wrestler from ASUKA PROJECT, and his music was muted as he entered. This was a decent back-and-forth match between the two, with some good ground work and hard chop exchanges. I expected Narita to take the loss here, since he’s a Young Lion and he was facing someone from an external promotion, but he managed to lock in a Boston Crab and stop Sayama from getting to the ropes, which finally forced him to tap out.
Winner: Narita Ren, 8:02
Toa Henare and Manabu Nakanishi vs. Dinosaur Takuma and Hiroyoshi Tenzan – Dinosaur Takuma is from KAIENTAI DOJO, and has a dinosaur tail on his outfit, so I immediately wanted him to win. He’s currently part of the K-DOJO Chiba Six Man Tag Team Champions. Nakanishi came out with half of his face painted in the same style as Henare’s Maori design. This was another decent match, with some good comedy spots and wrestling, especially from Henare and Dinosaur. Nakanishi and Tenzan are pretty immobile at this point, but they managed to make up for that with two more spritely partners. Takuma got a near fall with a Falcon Arrow, but Henare pinned him after a big uranage.
Winners: Toa Henare and Manabu Nakanishi, 10:33
Tomoyuki Oka vs. Yuji Nagata – This was the semi-final match of Lion’s Gate Project 13, and a chance for Oka to show off how much he has improved over the last few months. In the last Lion’s Gate Project Nagata defeated Ayato Yoshida in the main event, but in this match Oka pushed him even harder than Yoshida had done. Oka was actually able to control a lot of the match, and he used his youthful speed and strength to take the fight to the veteran. Oka even locked in a Boston Crab on Nagata in the centre of the ring, which looked like it might make him tap out until Nagata managed to make it to the ropes. Oka made the mistake of trying to stand up to Nagata in a striking exchange, which allowed the veteran to take control, although Oka managed to escape from a Nagata Lock before he was forced to tap out. Finally a back drop into a bridge was enough for a win for Nagata.
Winner: Yuji Nagata, 12:38
Shota Umino vs. Ayato Yoshida – Yoshida returned to Lion’s Gate from K-DOJO, following his losing effort against Yuji Nagata on the previous show. His ring gear was black and looked pretty similar to a Young Lion, so he looked like a bigger version of Umino. Yoshida controlled the opening portion of this match, keeping Umino grounded with a combination of kicks and submission holds. Yoshida clearly felt like Umino was beneath him and bullied him with his kicks, but he let his guard down which allowed the Young Lion to make a comeback, scoring a near fall after a missile dropkick and then putting Yoshida in a Boston Crab. A string of near falls followed this, including a very close two count for Umino from another missile dropkick. Yoshida pulled out a variety of knee strikes and PKs to try and put Umino down, but it was a savage kick to the head and a Nagata-esque backdrop that finally won the match for him. After the match he went to shake Umino’s hand, but Umino slapped his hand away, then bowed to Yoshida, slapped himself in the face, and rolled out of the ring.
Winner: Ayato Yoshida, 16:47
Final Thoughts
This was another fun, short Lion’s Gate Project, with overall good matches. The Oka vs. Nagata match was probably my favourite, but Umino looked good in a losing effort to Yoshida in the main event. There was a good heel-face dynamic between the bigger Yoshida and the plucky Umino. There was nothing as exciting as the Daisuke Sekimoto appearance this time round, but the tag matches were better than Lion’s Gate Project 12. A good breather between Dominion and the start of the Kizuna Road Tour.
