Dragon Gate Generation (ドラゴンゲート世代 Doragon Gēto Sedai), commonly abbreviated as Dragon Gate (ドラゴンゲート Doragon Gēto) was a professional wrestling stable in the Dragon Gate (DG) promotion. The stable was founded on December 18, 2019, by Ben-K, Kzy and YAMATO and various wrestlers from the Dragon Generation of wrestlers, in which most of them were trained by the promotion as part of the Dragon Gate Trueborn system.
The stable was founded after various members of some stables from Dragon Gate such as Mochizuki Dojo, Natural Vibes and Tribe Vanguard suspended their respective stables to unite all wrestlers from the Dragon Gate generation to form the stable, with the goal of surpassing the Toryumon generation and establish themselves as the future of the promotion. Since its establishment, the stable entered in a "Generation War" against Toryumon and R.E.D. In the short time of their formation, Dragon Gate founding members Ben-K, Dragon Dia, and Strong Machine J quickly brought the Open The Triangle Gate Championship, while Minoura and Lee brought the Open The Twin Gate Championship, and Okuda brought the Open The Brave Gate Championship to the stable. In December 2020, after R.E.D forced Toryumon, YAMATO decided to disband the stable, ending the "Generation War".
History[]
On December 18, 2019, BxB Hulk turned on YAMATO to join the villainous stable R.E.D, revealing himself to be the Red Masked Demon. Afterwards, YAMATO was joined by Ben-K and Natural Vibes' leader Kzy, who decided to form an alliance, making way for a temporary cease-fire between some stables in Dragon Gate such as Natural Vibes and Tribe Vanguard, suspending the respective stables to unite all wrestlers from the Dragon Gate generation, with the goal of surpassing the Toryumon generation and establish themselves as the future of the promotion. Ben-K, Kzy, and YAMATO were joined by various Dragon Gate wrestlers that were trained by the promotion, leading also Mochizuki Dojo and Strong Machines to be suspended in order to join stable. Afterwards, Dragon Gate began a "Generation War" against Toryumon and R.E.D. On December 22, YAMATO forfeited his half of the Open The Twin Gate Championship, leading to Hulk protest against the decision. Afterwards, General Manager Takayuki Yagi declared the titles vacated, with the new champions being crown in a tournament in January. KAI would announce his entrance to the tournament, with the purpose of preventing Hulk from regaining the Open The Twin Gate Championship and avenging his betrayal of Tribe Vanguard.
On December 26, Dragon Gate announced the participating teams in a tournament to crown the new Open The Twin Gate Champions. In the tournament, Dragon Gate would be represented by five teams taking part in the tournament to crown the new Open The Twin Gate Champions, Ben-K and YAMATO; Kzy and Dia; KAI and Machine J; Lee and Maria; Okuda and Tominaga. All five teams failed to win the tournament, with Ben-K and YAMATO being defeated in the finals of the tournament by the R.E.D duo of BxB Hulk and Kazma Sakamoto on January 15. Afterwards, YAMATO attempted to get a rematch for the titles, but Hulk initially rejected, he only accepted when he announced that his R.E.D stablemate Eita would be his partner, leading Masato Yoshino and Toryumon newest member Shuji Kondo to be involved in the match, due R.E.D attacking Yoshino earlier that night. During the event, Machine challenged R.E.D to a match to a match for the Open The Triangle Gate Championship, after both Machine and Toryumon's Ryo Saito pinned one-third of the Open The Triangle Gate Champions H.Y.O. KAI refused to be Machine's partner to get revenge on BxB Hulk, leading Maria and Okuda to be Machine's partner. Meanwhile, Kzy proclaimed himself as the next challenger to Naruki Doi's Open The Dream Gate Championship. Later that month, two teams of Dragon Gate took part in the 2020 Ashiyanikki Cup 6 Man Tag Team Tournament, Ben-K, Machine and Dia; and YAMATO, KAI, and Kzy. In the first round, YAMATO, KAI and Kzy were eliminated from the tournament by the R.E.D trio of Big R Shimizu, Eita, and Kaito Ishida, after BxB Hulk interfered in the match. Meanwhile, KAI got his revenge on Hulk, after costing him and his partners Kazma Sakamoto and Takashi Yoshida their semifinal match against Ben-K, Machine, and Dia. On January 26, Ben-K, Machine, and Dia defeated R.E.D (Eita, Ishida, and Shimizu) in the finals to win the tournament. The second big event of the storyline was on February 7 with a card full of matches between members of Dragon Gate, Toryumon, and R.E.D. In that night, Machine, Maria, and Okuda failed to win the Open The Triangle Gate Championship in a three-way match involving Toryumon (Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, and Kenichiro Arai). Later that night, KAI and YAMATO were the first team to be eliminated from the match, after YAMATO was pinned by BxB Hulk. Afterwards, General Manager Takayuki Yagi announced a six-way match between all wrestlers that took part in the match. However, the match ended up being canceled, because of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. On February 29 on the first night of the Champion Gate in Osaka, Ben-K, Machine, and Dia defeated Toryumon's Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, and Kenichiro Arai to win the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. On March 3, Yoshioka announced in his blog that he was going on a learning excursion. From May 15 to June 6, nine members of Dragon Gate took part in the 2020 King of Gate. Only YAMATO reached the semifinals, losing eventual winner Eita.
Following the tournament, KAI and YAMATO became part of a feud between BxB Hulk, Big R Shimizu, Eita and Masato Yoshino, after YAMATO mocked Hulk for being Eita's servant after Hulk helped Eita defeating YAMATO during the 2020 King of Gate semifinals and later Yoshino for his retirement, leading Dragon Gate General Manager Takayuki Yagi announcing them as part of the six-way steel cage survival match, during which if YAMATO had lost he would be forced to wrestle in plain white briefs, shoes and socks and cut his hair, while KAI would be forced to leave Dragon Gate, and join R.E.D if he escaped first. Meanwhile, it was decided that If Eita didn't escape first, he would have to defend the Open The Dream Gate Championship against a member of Dragon Gate. On August 2, at Memorial Gate in Wakayama, Lee and Minoura defeated R.E.D (Kazma Sakamoto and BxB Hulk) to win the Open The Twin Gate Championship. Later that month, R.E.D began teasing a new member, with his identity being kept in secret under the disguise of Dr. Muscle, known as another Yellow Masked Demon, respectively. Afterwards, Kaito Ishida tried to conciliate with Okuda and get him to join R.E.D on multiple occasions, but was turned down each time. On August 12, R.E.D began teasing a new member, with his identity being kept in secret under the disguise of Dr. Muscle, known as the Yellow Masked Demon, respectively. This led to on September 9, Ben-K accusing Okuda of being the Yellow Masked Demon, witth Okuda refuting the accusations, R.E.D revealed that they were going to reveal the identity of the Yellow Masked Demon on October 7. On September 21, at Dangerous Gate, Ben-K, Dia and Machine lost the Open The Triangle Gate Championship to R.E.D's Diamante, Kazma Sakamoto and Takashi Yoshida. In the main event, YAMATO and KAI took part in the six-way steel cage survival match. During the match, KAI turned on YAMATO, before retrieving the first flag of the match, leading him to join R.E.D as part of the match's stipulation. After YAMATO retreived the third flag and Eita the fourth, it was decided that Eita would defend the Open The Dream Gate Championship against a member of Dragon Gate, but if he had lost the match he would have been forced to join Dragon Gate.
On October 7, Naruki Doi and Ryo Saito asked Tominaga to join Team Boku, but he refused. Doi, Saito, and Ryotsu Shimizu would face Tominaga, Maria and U-T in a winning effort, after Shimizu pinned Tominaga. Following the match, Doi and Saito asked Tominaga for the second time to join them. After being impressed by Team Boku, Tominaga asked the other Dragon Gate Generation members if he could join Team Boku, in which Kzy and YAMATO accepted, leading Tominaga to leave the Dragon Gate Generation and join Team Boku, becoming their fourth member. Later that night, Ben-K, Minoura, Kzy and YAMATO faced R.E.D (BxB Hulk, Eita, KAI and Kaito Ishida). Okuda interfered during the match, revealing himself to be Yellow Masked Demon. Afterwards, Kaito Ishida urged Okuda to attack Ben-K, leading Okuda to turn on Ishida instead, causing Dragon Gate to win the match. Following the match, Okuda revealed to be on Dragon Gate's side and challenged Ishida to a match for the Open The Brave Gate Championship. On November 3, at Gate of Destiny, Okuda defeated Kaito Ishida to win the Open The Brave Gate Championship. In the main event, Kzy unsucessfully challenged Eita for the Open The Dream Gate Championship. On November 14, Lee and Minoura were forced to vacate the Open The Twin Gate Championship, due to Lee missing the 2020 Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival as a precautionary measure for the COVID-19 after registering a high fever. The following day, at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, Minoura and YAMATO failed to defeat R.E.D (BxB Hulk and KAI) for the vacant titles. Following the event, Dragon Gate also began a rivalry with Shun Skywalker, after Ben-K had challenged him to a match for his Open The Dream Gate Championship. On December 2, Skywalker announced the creation of his own, leading Dia, Minoura, and Lee to announce their departures from the stable and defecting to Skywalker's new stable. Afterwards, Kzy and other Dragon Gate members confronted them. On December 20 at Final Gate, Ben-K unsucessfully challenged Skywalker for the Open The Dream Gate Championship. Following the match, it was announced that Ben-K had suffured a concussion during the match, leading him to not competing for the time being. Seven days later, after R.E.D forced Toryumon to disband, YAMATO decided to disband the stable ending the "Generation War".
Members[]
| Member | Duration |
|---|---|
| Ben-K | December 18, 2019 – December 27, 2020 |
| Dragon Dia | December 18, 2019 – December 3, 2020 |
| Jason Lee | December 18, 2019 – December 3, 2020 |
| KAI | December 18, 2019 – September 21, 2020 |
| Keisuke Okuda | December 18, 2019 – December 27, 2020 |
| Kota Minoura | December 18, 2019 – December 3, 2020 |
| Kzy | December 18, 2019 – December 27, 2020 |
| Mondai Ryu | December 18, 2019 – December 27, 2020 |
| Oji Shiiba | December 18, 2019 – December 27, 2020 |
| Punch Tominaga | December 18, 2019 – October 7, 2020 |
| Strong Machine J | December 18, 2019 – December 27, 2020 |
| YAMATO | December 18, 2019 – December 27, 2020 |
| Yosuke♥Santa Maria | December 18, 2019 – December 27, 2020 |
| Yuki Yoshioka | December 18, 2019 – March 3, 2020 |
| U-T | December 18, 2019 – December 27, 2020 |
Timeline[]
Championships and Accomplishments[]
- Dragon Gate
- Open The Brave Gate Championship (1 time) – Okuda
- Open The Triangle Gate Championship (1 time) – Ben-K, Dia and Machine J
- Open The Twin Gate Championship (1 time) – Lee and Minoura
- Ashiyanikki Cup 6 Man Tag Team Tournament (2020) – Ben-K, Dia and Machine J
Gallery[]
