- 7 weeks ago
Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival 2026 - Open the Dream Gate Championship
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00:00Yes
00:08The lacks with our journey
00:18Partner, TbZ
00:21Carrier
00:22This year, I will pilot the operation with a cab.
00:28It's not yet to come to that point.
00:37Again, Dream Gate王 the Chosen.
00:41The man who can't give up with his hands,
00:44the chance is to get the chance.
00:49The battle against the Cielo,
00:51the King of the Chosen.
01:01KZ-魂-王座戦
01:05KZ-魂-王座戦
01:06KZ-魂-王座戦
01:16KZ-魂-王座戦
01:35I don't know.
01:51Might be a game of May.
01:55I'm saying we won't.
01:57I will not.
01:58Dean, you're so smart, right?
02:01That's right.
02:02I'm gonna kill you.
02:05Then, you can take me to the team.
02:06The team on top.
02:09Come on.
02:10Mr Dragonwoger!
02:10He is a team host, sir.
02:12You're your turn.
02:16Come on!
02:17Don't marry me.
02:19We will never die again again.
02:20Thank you, Mr. Kata.
02:21Come on!
02:24Open the DREAMGATE match.
02:27The challenge of Keiji vs. Champion, Kitsutan Madoka!
02:58Oh
03:36Oh
04:16In his 20th anniversary year straight out of Edetsu the challenger KZ
04:25Is he going to beat Kekuta 20 years so many challenges this is challenge number seven
04:40He is facing perhaps the most fearsome open the dream gate champion ever seen
04:57The 42nd open the dream gate champion this would be defense number six
05:04Won the championship
05:13August 17th from Shin Skywalker at Dangerous Gate 2025
05:27Benkei
05:36Is here
05:38Susumu Yokosuka
05:42Gianni Valetta
05:43Yuki Yoshioka
05:45And his own stable mate Kai
05:49Those are the five keys on the front of the belt five challengers five rolling lariats
05:59And Kekuta has said
06:04The key the challenger key that KZ holds
06:10Has about as much value as the key to his to his house or his shed
06:16And that after this that over the last 17 months since his betrayal of deep courage
06:2726 years old from Kanazawa
06:32In his sixth year as a pro wrestler his second reign is dream gate champion Madoka Kekuta
06:44His mission statement since dead or alive last year has been one thing destruction of dragon gate
06:52Destruction
06:56So
07:02Leaving the championship on the mat
07:05Disrespect to uh
07:07Hatano-san
07:09Her name is on the match
07:11He's the main sponsor
07:13And is the
07:15Residing official for
07:17All big show dream gate championship matches
07:19And you can see that's what
07:21That's what Kekuta thinks of the dream gate championship and of dragon gate and its supporters
07:28Again that
07:29That challenger key
07:32KZ has had held
07:34Has had six of them in his possession
07:35In 2018 Misaki Mochizuki
07:382019
07:39Pack
07:402020
07:41Two times
07:43Neruki Doei and Eita
07:482021
07:49Right here at this event as king of the king of gate winner that year
07:55A match where he got monkey flipped off the apron and a gift that has left that will outlive all
08:01of us
08:02Failed the challenge against Shin Skywalker
08:04And then last year against Yamato
08:11I've been
08:12I've been at every Kobe world
08:15I've been in this building
08:16For every Kobe pro wrestling festival since 2011
08:20Okay
08:22First one 15 years ago
08:24KZ at the time was only five years into his career
08:27And he was the loser of a fall
08:29In a match with Stalker Ichikawa
08:32He got pinned
08:33By Stalker Ichikawa
08:35It was a triple simultaneous pinfall
08:422012
08:43My second Kobe world
08:44He got pinned
08:45In a match with Stalker Ichikawa
08:49KZ
08:50He's the first one to admit this
08:52That
08:54He wasted the first 10 years of his career
08:56Debut in 2006
08:58Part of the first MEX class
09:01Yamato, Shingo, Tozawa, the rest all busted, broke away
09:06KZ was the top of the guys that were still left over
09:09Won the next
09:10Won a tournament
09:11Got a Mexico excursion
09:12Came back to a big fanfare
09:15And
09:17Underachieved because of his attitude
09:18He
09:18Now he calls it
09:20He calls it Arakenism
09:23Araken and Kondo were his coaches
09:25In that
09:26KZ
09:27He doesn't
09:27He doesn't look like a champion
09:31He's on
09:31He's on the magazine cover with the title belt
09:35He doesn't look like a guy that would be on the magazine cover with the title belt
09:40He comes off
09:41He comes off
09:42And
09:42Kikta
09:44Just blows him over with the shoulder tackle
09:48Ooh
09:49To the outside
09:50KZ
09:51Boom
09:55And
09:56We've seen this before
09:57He's doing it one more time
10:00And
10:00Perfect segue
10:01Thanks KZ
10:03The switch in his career came 10 years ago
10:052016
10:06We had a wrestler named Akira Tozawa
10:09You know him
10:10You were in a tournament with him in 2016
10:12Yeah
10:14In the tournament that took him from us
10:17Yeah
10:18But
10:18But brought you here
10:19Yeah
10:22Tozawa
10:22He
10:23He had a nickname while he was here
10:24We call it
10:25He was the son of the ring
10:26A son
10:27S-U-N
10:28Okay
10:29Bright shining sun
10:30Okay
10:31Because
10:33Just going out and being in the sun
10:35Feels good
10:36Improves your mood
10:37And when you came to a Dragon Gate show
10:40Didn't matter if your favorite got beat
10:41In the second or third match
10:43Because
10:44Akira Tozawa was going to come out
10:45And he was going to cheer you up
10:47He was going to be the bright spot
10:50And
10:50When he left
10:53That's what
10:54That's what they
10:54The outlook change
10:55As he is being brutalized on the apron
10:57But
10:57Or on the floor
10:58But slips out and posts the champion
11:00Tozawa
11:01When Tozawa left
11:03To go to New York
11:06KZ promised that he was going to be the son
11:08He was going to be the one
11:11Oh
11:12Oh
11:12Before he become a son
11:14Well the son might be setting
11:17He got to be survived from this one
11:19This is the back suplex to the apron of the ring
11:22Hit the back of it
11:23I mean that was
11:23His spine
11:25His back of his head
11:26Wow
11:28And that
11:29KZ
11:30He was determined to not be left behind
11:33You got 20 seconds to get back to the ring
11:3520 counts
11:36To be exact
11:38And that
11:39The story that led to his
11:41His first dream gate challenge
11:42And the dream gate challenges
11:43After the formation of natural vibes
11:45And what has
11:45Led to them being the longest running unit
11:48In history
11:49Oh
11:50And a body slam
11:51Is because
11:52Is because
11:53When he got monkey flipped off the apron
11:55By Shin Skywalker in 2021
11:57And when he got back dropped on the apron
12:00By Vidoka Kikita
12:01Or at least
12:02Has been in similar positions in the past
12:07He hasn't
12:08He hasn't stayed down
12:09He got up
12:10He kept fighting
12:11He kept dreaming
12:14If he wins today
12:15Here's a stat for you
12:17If he were to win today
12:18He would become the first
12:19Dragon Gate wrestler
12:20To win their first
12:21To win their first dream gate championship
12:23After the age of 40
12:26Well we've got Yamato in the past
12:28First
12:28Well
12:28First championship
12:29He was 25
12:30When he won the championship
12:31For the first time
12:32Oh you mean the first time
12:33Winning the belt
12:34First time winning the belt
12:35The other
12:36There's one exception
12:37That's Jushin Thunder Liger
12:39Who was in his 40s
12:40When he was dream gate champion
12:41Well
12:42Again
12:42Liger's a legend
12:46That's why I qualified it by saying first Dragon Gate wrestler
12:50In their 40s
12:53But Kikita on the other side
12:57Again I touched on this at the start before the match started in that
13:032000
13:042000
13:04He won his first championship in 2023
13:07He's the fastest dream gate champion in history
13:09He was 22 years old
13:14When he won it
13:15And at the time
13:17You know he called out
13:19He handpicked the
13:20The railway new generation
13:22A term that we don't
13:23That we don't even use anymore
13:24You know he handpicked the guys
13:25That were going to be the ones to carry Dragon Gate into the future
13:29And
13:32They let him down
13:33They let the company down
13:34Again he's never
13:35He hasn't spoken
13:38Specifically about
13:40His motivations
13:41And why he's
13:42Become what he has
13:44But you know the fact that his first targets
13:47Were all the rest of the railway new generation
13:49In order
13:50Machine
13:51Yoshioka
13:52Machine J
13:53Skywalker
13:54Benke
13:57That
13:57Boom
14:03This time he hits
14:04D-Boy off the apron from KZ
14:07That
14:09The betrayal of D-Courage
14:10The betrayal of Shin Skywalker
14:12The restructuring of Zebrettes into Gajadokuro
14:15Again we've said it
14:17In every title defense
14:18That they want to replace the Dragon Gate logo
14:21With the Gajadokuro logo on the mat
14:23And this is going to culminate
14:25Kipta has promised
14:26If he wins tonight
14:27He's throwing the Dream Gate Championship
14:29Into the garbage
14:31Into the garbage?
14:32Into a garbage can
14:35Because
14:36He feels
14:37He
14:38His opinion is
14:39Again he hasn't defended the championship since April
14:42Oh
14:43And that was
14:44Against a member of his own unit
14:47And
14:47He said that
14:49It's the biggest show of the year
14:50And the only two people that showed interest
14:52Or had the confidence
14:55Or stupidity
14:55To challenge
14:56To come and step to him
14:58For this for the Dream Gate
14:59Were
15:00A 40 year old husband
15:01Who's accomplished nothing in a 20 year career
15:04Perennial loser who's just going to lose again
15:06And the weird masked guy who's only been wrestling for eight months
15:09And wanted the Dream Gate to get to Yoshiki Kato
15:12If that's the best opposition
15:14Dragon Gate can produce for him
15:15For this show
15:16Then that's a sign
15:18That mission is accomplished
15:19The company is decimated
15:21He's proven his point
15:22No one can step to him
15:23No one can beat him
15:25And he doesn't need the championship anymore
15:27So it's time to throw it out
15:28And it's time to throw out KC
15:31Well he's taking
15:33Taking a long walk up the ramp
15:36He's going to
15:38He's going to power
15:39Power driver him from here
15:41Pile driver power bomb
15:43There is a lot of evil intentions
15:46Can KC leave him back up?
15:48That's a
15:50That's a heavy piece of
15:51Oh
15:54You're right
15:57It was a pile driver
15:59There's a different kind of setting this year
16:02As you can see here in front of us
16:04There's a lot of board
16:06It was carpet last year
16:08Oh no it was like the
16:10Yeah
16:11So when
16:12I was like
16:13When KC take the first body slam outside the ring
16:16I was like
16:16It's going to be more painful
16:18Yeah this
16:18Because we've got
16:19This green
16:20This green tarp
16:22That's right underneath our table
16:23But only our table
16:25Um
16:26Yeah but the rest is
16:27But the rest is
16:28It's like really really hard board
16:30It's a different setting
16:31It's exposed board
16:32Yeah
16:34Well I mean the ramp has been there every single year
16:36And it sucks to get pile driven on it
16:38No matter what year it is
16:39Oh wow
16:40Well it sucks to take a pile driver
16:42No matter where it is
16:45Especially there's the hard pile and
16:48And you know KZ
16:48He was able to use part of the ramp to roll down
16:52And speed up his
16:5318 count
16:54Again a 20 count is the count out
16:57And he sneaks in
16:59He's there
17:07He's there
17:08Yeah there's this
17:09It's not split like it was in the last match
17:11This crowd is firmly behind KZ
17:13I feel like everybody that's watching on the Dragon Gate Network or on Gowra
17:18Is behind KZ
17:23With the possible exception but even this I'm not confident about is Kikta's parents
17:31They might be cheering for him
17:33Whoa
17:35They might be cheering for KZ too though
17:36And again
17:39It's been
17:39He's
17:40Gomi
17:41Garbage
17:42You're trash
17:46They did trade on Saturday in Kyoto
17:50Kikta busted out a rear naked choke and choked KZ out for a referee stop
17:55But yesterday in Kobe
18:04That it was KZ with the spider twist getting a referee stop on Kikta
18:19They're going to try Kikta going for another one of those snap pile drivers but KZ with the backdrop
18:32Backdrop
18:33Backdrop suplex on the apron
18:34The pile driver on the
18:36On the ramp
18:41Kikta another thing Kikta has been using to great effect is that this front sleeper but with a swing
18:46Now this is the giant swing
18:47This
18:50That is a deadly
18:52Oh but KZ
18:54KZ with a brain buster
18:55Wow
18:56Wow
18:57Kikta didn't let go
19:00That guy stubble his size
19:03KZ
19:04One of Kikta's thighs
19:08Is like 70% of an entire KZ
19:17KZ
19:18KZ
19:18KZ
19:18KZ
19:19KZ
19:20KZ
19:32KZ
19:39KZ
19:40KZ
19:41KZ
19:41KZ
19:41KZ
19:41KZ
19:45KZ
19:46KZ
19:49KZ
19:52KZ
19:53KZ
19:53KZ
19:54KZ
19:58KZ
19:59KZ
20:01KZ
20:09KZ
20:15KZ
20:15KZ
20:15KZ
20:15KZ
20:15KZ
20:19KZ
20:19KZ
20:20KZ
20:24KZ
20:27KZ
20:28KZ
20:29KZ
20:39KZ
20:44KZ
20:44KZ
20:44KZ
20:44KZ
21:01KZ
21:16KZ
21:17KZ
21:17KZ
21:17KZ
21:21KZ
21:25KZ
21:27KZ
21:30KZ
21:31KZ
21:31KZ
21:31KZ
21:31but KZ's legs were sticking straight up and when they came down they naturally put him in
21:38in position to pop up on his feet
22:13there is a lot of weight behind those counter blows from
22:21from Kipita you see Giyuchi winced
22:36KZ has got some of the sharpest
22:41strikes in Dragon Gate you know he throws those elbows in those uppercuts
22:48you've been hit with them you know but
22:52you know he has refined his technique but Kikita
22:56he doesn't need to be refined he just has to put he just has to put his whole ass into
23:00it
23:01oh he just walked into the counter
23:06no this is no spider twist
23:12he made Kikita pass out with this yesterday
23:17Hariko Yoshida spider twist
23:26Kikita trapped in the web
23:28is he gonna tap oh no he broke out of it and he is gonna
23:35he's gonna lift up yeah KZ should have gave up he should he should have let it go
23:39boom
23:41just take a rest first Kikita
23:45Kikita gonna clear the cobwebs no pun intended
24:03now Kikita
24:08he's got the challenger up on top
24:16oh the other way around what on earth
24:21what else you got yeah I don't know
24:27oh okay set him on the shoulder and then
24:32oh no oh no this is that driver I asked him if he has a name for it he says
24:38no it speaks for itself
24:40oh and then KZ they've just saved his own life by escaping that in an uppercut
24:48and then KKita sends Kikita and he got a good close-up there of what she meant about the boards
24:52on the floor
24:54KZ from the post
24:57and KZ ties in time with delirious
25:02yeah see that is there's no tarp down it's just hardwood floor
25:11yeah the last year is a carpet it's a green it's a green it's a green it's a green carpet
25:16which is right here underneath this
25:18i think it's a little bit softer than that but uh
25:21i don't mean soft but it's a floor it's a flooring material
25:26this was plastic it's like a floor hockey floor hockey or futzado
25:33what was that oh there's payback for the backdrop earlier a beat bomb onto the apron
25:40and this time it's the champion his spine the back of his head
25:48oh kai jason lee is being worried now
25:52this is natural vibes have the numbers to match in the corner
25:59and KZ time to the back shadows over events delirious to the back
26:07let's hit one more this time KZ time to the back
26:25all right check your watches could the hands finally stop for the first time
26:33KZ time KZ time into double foot stomp reverse
26:38he double foot stomped himself yeah
26:45and Kikuda is just right out of position
26:49big hip the bunker buster buster
26:54uh-oh look at KZ's face is he okay
27:02lights are on but there might not be anybody's home there anymore
27:08Kikuda
27:14oh what do you got now Kikuda
27:20he's gonna try and swing him again i think KZ's gonna
27:26Kik just swung him around and then choked him out in kyoto
27:29on saturday and that's what yeah this
27:36yeah and this is what this was the counter he came up with yesterday in kobe
27:50he's gonna have to
27:53not satisfied you also have to wonder we're getting deep into the match now can he get him with the
27:58impact
28:00that
28:02ah keek to catch is in there's that sit down driver that's what he was trying off the top rope
28:09earlier
28:13no name needed we're at the 20 minute mark at our main event
28:16yes
28:39KC Kekuda
28:42Kikta to his feet first, fist to the arrow, oh, didn't roll with it, but ran in a second.
29:00Full force at point blank, but the damage done to the arm might be enough.
29:20Every last fan in attendance, Channing KZ.
29:34Kikta inviting, hit me with your best.
29:44This is essentially a strap match now and Kikta gonna hold KZ.
29:54Keep him standing, hit me as hard as you can, I'm gonna hit you harder.
29:58Let's see if KZ can be the one that.
30:06Oh, and now it's KZ pulling Kikta.
30:09Keep it up.
30:16Kikta was winding up with a big swing.
30:27Get it better.
30:35It explodes with a hip attack.
30:42And this has been the story of his reign.
30:45Just when the challengers think they're starting to build some momentum.
30:54Kikta explodes, start throwing ass in lariats.
30:59Kikta, Kikta, Kikta, Kikta, Kikta, Kikta, Kikta, Kikta, Kikta, Kikta.
31:18Kikta, Kikta, Kikta is standing in the, in the neutral corner of the spot.
31:21He has ended all his previous defenses with KZ still one, had one left in the chamber.
31:32rolling lariat cover right into the cover keeps uh has casey kicks out
31:46a second counter scuddy scuddy school boy doesn't can't hold him down he's just too big
32:09rolling lariat hits that's it that's it a second rolling
32:17no he kicked out it's only taken one for keekta to win the championship and defend it five times
32:28keekta or casey has kicked out of two
32:48key goodah might be thinking the power driver
32:54mile driver d3 this is the driver again the driver of no name spider twist oh spider twist
33:06on the air learning lured his prey in oh on the air i'll push the hand in yeah so they've
33:18got a choke
33:18ball choke it uh oh again all he has to do is drop oh he sent him down cdj
33:34and now spider twist again oh this is just a it's a triangle this is a triangle choke
33:43he could have just lifted with the power bomb but now he did earlier but he just got cdj'd cdj
33:49got
33:50drop on top of the head drop on top of the head not even tap not even able to tap
33:56still got yagi checking the arm triangle choke
34:05slip down now it's trying now it's spider twist spider twist
34:14kz gonna let it go oh look at his eye what's that eyes are rolled in the back of his
34:21head
34:36point of the elbow now running elbow smash one two champion
34:52kz may regret releasing the hold uppercut
35:05oh second
35:12running elbow smash
35:15it's kz time
35:23kz
35:27kz
35:28kz
35:33kz
35:39kz
35:40kz
35:41kz
35:43kz
35:43kz
35:55kz
35:56kz
35:57kz
35:59kz
36:22kz
36:24kz
36:24kz
36:25kz
36:25kz
36:26kz
36:37kz
36:38I am a leader of the 43th of Open the Dream Gate.
36:44In January 20, Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling, General Manager,
36:55Saito Ryo, and the 6th of MND,
37:00Director of MND, Hatano Tomiko.
37:04A new company, MND.
37:05and then there's a new company now new sponsor I was wondering why they changed
37:10the pad but on his seventh try in his 20th year as a pro wrestler if you have
37:22a dream