Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival (2018)

The Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival (2018) is an upcoming professional wrestling event promoted by Dragon Gate (DG). The event is scheduled to take place on July 28, 2018, at the World Memorial Hall in Kobe, Japan. It will be the 15th Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival, which is Dragon Gate's biggest annual event and its similar to NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom. The event is available in their streaming service Dragon Gate Network.

The show was headlined by the winner of the 2018 King of Gate Masato Yoshino defending the Open The Dream Gate Championship against Shingo Takagi in a rematch from the King of Gate. Another high-profile match scheduled for the show will see Dragon Kid defending the Open The Brave Gate Championship.

Background
The Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival 2018 was officially announced in January 2018. Tickets for the event went on sale on April 18, 2018. The will air live through Dragon Gate's internet streaming site, Dragon Gate Network, with Japanese language commentaries. The Japanese commentary will be provided by Katsuya Ichikawa. The event also aired on tape delay on Japanese TV Gaora Sports to be launched in Dragon Gate's ~ Infinity ~ Series. On April 18, Dragon Gate announced on Twitter that tickets would go on May 20.

The event will feature former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tatsumi Fujinami, his son LEONA and Yoshiaki Fujiwara as special guests for the event. Fujinami made an appearance for Dragon Gate in May 2018, teaming with Dragon Kid, and Masaaki Mochizuki in a loss against Shingo Takagi, Takashi Yoshida, and Yuko Miyamoto. While, LEONA also made an appearance in May 2018. Meanwhile, Fujiwara as made appearances since 2013 usually appearing for the Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival, with his last appearance being in the 2016 Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival teaming with Masaaki Mochizuki in a winning effort against Don Fujii and Masakatsu Funaki.

On June 27, it was announced that contract signing ceremony for the title matches would be held on July 21, broadcasting live for free at Dragon Gate's internet streaming service Dragon Gate Network.

Storylines
The Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival will be main evented by Masato Yoshino defending the Open The Dream Gate Championship against Shingo Takagi. The storyline behind the match dates back to 2015. In August 2015, Takagi started showing some signs of a heel turn, after berating T-Hawk for losing against Yoshino at Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival and started to have some tension with Yoshino, due to forming a team with T-Hawk. Takagi and Yoshino were both parts of the same stable Monster Express. Yoshino and Takagi agreed to a match for the Open The Dream Gate Championship against Yoshino at Dangerous Gate. At Dangerous Gate, Yoshino lost the title to Takagi. After the match, Takagi finally turned heel, after turning on his Monster Express, Yoshino, and Shachihoko BOY. Takagi would then dominate Open The Dream Gate Championship title picture for almost a year, losing it once, but quickly regaining it in March. He would lose the title to YAMATO at 2016 Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival in July 2016. Meanwhile, Yoshino would spend most of his time in the mid-card defending the Open The Triangle Gate Championship, which he, T-Hawk and Akira Tozawa won defeating Takagi, Naruki Doi and YAMATO to win the vacant titles and later being sidelined for almost a year due to a back injury, which almost forced him to retire. Takagi and Yoshino would then be part of a losing disband match between VerserK led by Takagi and Monster Express led by Yoshino, which ended with VerserK forcing Monster Express to disband. VerserK kept feuding with Yoshino, Naruki Doi, and Kotoka, which led to the formation of MaxiMuM.

Yoshino and Takagi would cross path again in May 2018 during the King of Gate tournament, where Yoshino and Takagi were placed in block D. Takagi would end up defeating Yoshino for the second time in almost two years since their last match. Takagi would finish the tournament with a record of two wins, one double count out, and one loss against Susumu Yokosuka cost him a place in the semifinals. Meanwhile, Yoshino won his block with a record of two wins, one loss, and one draw, advancing both to the semifinals of the tournament. On June 1, Yoshino defeated Takagi's ANTIAS (formerly VerserK) stablemate Takashi Yoshida to advance to the finals of the tournament. On June 9, Yoshino defeated YAMATO in the finals to become the first wrestler to win the King of Gate for the second time. The following day, Yoshino defeated Masaaki Mochizuki to win the Open The Dream Gate Championship for the fourth time tying Takagi's record of most reigns as Open The Dream Gate Champion. Following the match, Takagi confronted Yoshino and called his win against Mochizuki and YAMATO a "fluke" and that his lost against him was the only decisive match he had was when he lost to Takagi. Takagi stated that he didn't accepted Yoshino as champion and that he should give him the title. This led to General Manager Takayuki Yagi making the match official for the main event of the Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival. The event will feature Takagi's rematch for the title since he lost it.

In the Open The Brave Gate Championship, Dragon Kid will make his second title defense against his former tag team partner Eita. On April 7, 2016, Eita invited Dragon Kid to join Over Generation, which he accepted. The two subsequently formed a team as part of Over Generation. On May 5, at Dead or Alive, Eita and Kid, unsuccessfully challenged Big R Shimizu and T-Hawk for the Open The Twin Gate Championship. In August, Eita and Kid took part in the Summer Adventure Tag League. They ended up winning the tournament defeating "brother" YASSHI and Naruki Doi in the finals of the tournament. This led to them receiving another match for the Open The Twin Gate Championship, this time losing to Jimmy Kagetora and Jimmy Susumu. During this time, Eita won the Open The Brave Gate Championship, but the title was declared vacated in March of the following year. On November 8, Eita turned on Kid and rejoined VerserK revealing he was their newest member. In May 2018, Eita and Kid took part in the King of Gate tournament. Kid would face Eita in his first tournament match. Eita would injury Kid on purpose, leading to him forfeiting the rest of his matches in the King of Gate. During the tournament, Kid and Eita agreed to a losing disband match between Over Generation and ANTIAS (formerly VerserK) on July 5, due to Kid being injured. On June 10, ANTIAS defeated Over Generation, with Eita pinning Kid to gain the advantage in the Losing disband match on July 5. After the match, Eita stated that Kid was "devaluing the championship", leading to General Manager Takayuki Yagi to make the match official for the event. On June 30, Eita and Takagi defeated Kid and Yoshino to win the predule match, with Eita pinning Kid for the win. The event will feature Eita's rematch for the title since it was vacated.

In the Open The Twin Gate Championship, Big Ben (Ben-K and Big R Shimizu) will make their second title defense against Tribe Vanguard (BxB Hulk and YAMATO). On June 16, YAMATO and Hulk teamed with their Tribe Vanguard stablemates Kagetora and Yosuke♡Santa Maria in a winning effort against Shimizu, Ben-K and their MaxiMuM stablemates Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino, with YAMATO pinning Shimizu after Doi a accidentally cost him the match. After the match, YAMATO and Hulk challenged Ben-K and Shimizu to a title match, since Ben-K and Shimizu had defeated their stablemates Kagetora and Maria before to make their first successfull title defense, leading to to General Manager Takayuki Yagi making the match official for the Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival.